The Great War: Red Dawn
by GodOThunder
Summary: Hey guys. This is the second fanfic that I've written, and it takes place well beyond the time period of the current arc in the comics. Technology has advanced above modern standards, so you'll get to see some, hopefully, unique applications of magic and all sorts of new possibilities that goes along with it. I don't own the 2k universe, but all characters here are my creation.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

A dense fog surrounded a man as he found himself in an unfamiliar city. He began to walk down the center of an avenue that was void of life, littered with burning vehicles and the smell of lingering blood. A heavy loneliness burdened him as he looked around in a desperate search for signs of people, but he only heard the screams of them being tortured and brutally killed. He tried to run, but he found himself crawling at a snail's pace. As his foot hit the ground, he heard a slosh sound as if stepping into a puddle. He looked down to see the street lined with disfigured bodies covered in blood, each of them aligned neatly like cobblestones. They whispered his name, calling out for help, to end their pain and suffering. As much as he wanted to scream, he couldn't. His face remained glued in it's current expression of nothingness and his mouth refused to open.

Black ash falling from the sky whipped around from the prevailing winds and a loud humming noise caught his attention. He snapped his head towards the sky, which was as gray and dismal as the fog, where the low noise was coming from. A large metal, ship-like monstrosity manifested out of the clouds; its length seemingly had no end. The ship continued to reveal itself until a large circular ring can be seen on its underside. He watched on as the ring emanated a fascinating bright light that put him into a trance while a low demonic voice laughed at his demise. Not matter how hard he tried to look away, his eyes wouldn't budge and he remained there until the white light consumed everything around him. Squinting from the remnants of the light, he saw a humanoid figure with its back turned. Slowly approaching it, he noticed that the figure was female and he managed to called out to her, but with no response. He shouted over and over until he was within arms reach and grabbed her by the shoulder.

Images flashed in his mind in rapid succession, giving him very little time to comprehend them. He caught glimpses of people dying, building on fire and collapsing, machines laying waste to innocents, and a dark misty being staring him face to face. They all relayed the same message: death and destruction. The images stopped and the woman in front of him turned around to show her burnt, cracked, bloodied face followed by a high pitched screamed that caused his heart to race and to finally awaken from this nightmare.

He quickly sat up from his bed, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He felt the beat of his heart in his throat as he looked around the room to make sure he was back in the real world. To his assurance he was, and he slammed back down onto the bed and sighed in relief. A knock came to the door and he heard a very familiar voice that belonged to the general.

"Cain? You up?"

He sat back up again and groaned loud enough for the general to hear.

"Aw did I wake you?" He mocked. "Get your ass out of bed Cain. We're meeting the other embassies today and I need you looking your best. And make it pronto, we're leaving in five."

"Aye aye, captain." He saluted the door. He looked at the clock on the nightstand next to his bed and he shook his head knowing that he overslept, which would have been a disaster. He headed for a special looking closet, sealed tight in a metal casing with a digital display that prompted a password. After pressing a few buttons, the doors opened with a hiss as the vacuum broke, and inside hung black, full body armor with a red tripe that ran around the collar and a patch labeled, R.E.D. imbedded in its right shoulder. Next to it was his trusty shotgun, custom made for his needs and able to take down any foe that wanders in its sights. He removed the armor and suspended it in mid air with the flick of his wrist and turned his back to it. Taking two steps back, the armor conformed to him like a viscous liquid and finally settled after he rolled his shoulders for a bit. The mirror next to the closet showed a determined man ready to face whatever challenges that lied ahead of him. His blue eyes stared cautiously as he made sure everything was in check. He knocked a few times on his armor which gave off the echo of metal; a signal that told him that everything was a go and he ran his hands through his short blonde hair, checking for any unsightly cowlicks. Just as he was about to grab his gun, he saw the faint images of the woman in his dreams. He could hear the distinct scream in his head; a scream that he hopes to forget. A shake of the head made him focus and the face vanished from the mirror.

_It was just a dream Cain. Nothing more._

Grabbing the shotgun from the closet, he inspected it thoroughly as he did with his armor and loaded a magazine into the slot and reached over to store it on a gun holster on his back. Gripping his fists, he smiled one last time before heading out the door to meet with the general.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"It's about time soldier." The general saluted and he did the same.

"Glad to see you too Eugene."

General Eugene Hanowitz. A short, old man who spent the majority of his life in the Anavian military, formerly known as the Human territories. As stubby as he make look, he has the utmost of authority in the nation, having a stern face that coincided with his strict policies. Luckily for Cain, he has known him for most of his military career, so he hasn't given him much trouble for the most part. Eugene has a love-hate relationship with most of the others in service. Either he doesn't like you, in which he will devote to making your life miserable until you meet his expectations, or he would treat you like a close friend where you will get to know his more sarcastic side. As they passed through the corridors of the main barracks, they received salutes from passersby, and the general would occasionally yell at those who were standing around being unproductive. His voice was very distinct and had a slight raspy sound to it, sort of like a piece of fine sandpaper rubbing on metal, but it also had a charismatic touch to it which came naturally with his title. He debriefed Cain on the upcoming mission. Cain knew of its importance, but the old man's solemn tone made him realize that it was beyond his foresight.

"As you may know, by the end of the day we will be assembling the most deadly team that Mekkan has ever seen."

This was something that was not unknown to him.

"All four national embassies have agreed to make you the leader."

Cain remained speechless for a moment, unsure of why they would choose him. Hanowitz found his silence humorous and laughed as they made it to the airway terminals.

"I knew that's how you would react! It's a good thing I told you this now because, as annoying as it is, the council will expect some sort of speech from you. And I know how you tend to slip up when put on the spot like that."

Cain grinned and acquired his friend's sarcasm. "I don't know what you're talking about. Okay maybe I have a little trouble, but it's nothing I can't handle. I just have one question. Why me?"

"Because you're the best damn soldier on the planet Cain. And I agree one hundred percent with that decision. You're a part of R.E.D. for a reason. You've got the necessary skills to kill and you have the ability to lead. Emphasis on the latter."

Cain shrugged. "I guess you're right."

"You know I'm right!"

Both of them reached the ground level and paced towards the tarmac of the runway, where a sing decent sized hangar rested, away from the others. The loud screeches of jet engines blared as three fighters took off vertically in unison, soon to become dots on the horizon as they throttled forward. As they peered the corner, the general's private plane came into view. It was sleek in design and contained the most advanced defenses ranging from stealth and active cloak for quick getaways, to countermeasures to deter enemy fire. The inside held all of the luxuries as you would expect for a man of his rank. Swiveled chairs that conformed to your body, a mini bar for drinks when the time was right, a television imbedded in the overhang to relay visual information of ground troops, and of course the famous red telephone for the most dire situations. The side door to the fuselage closed and the plane taxied onto the runway. The pilot was given permission for takeoff and he set the engines to full blast leading to a smooth and quick climb to cruising altitude.

"Mana capacitors active and cruising altitude achieved. You can walk freely about the cabin now." The pilot said over the intercom. Eugene turned his chair to the soldier who sat across from him.

"So, what do you think?" He stroked his beard, waiting for a humorous remark.

Cain looked around the cabin, taking a second look at its fancies. Perhaps it was a bit too much for his liking.

"It's a little too fancy for me. I like things that are more simpler." He took a drink from a water bottle that was conveniently placed in a holder next to the chair. "I'm sure you like it though. Coming back from a long day on the job. It must be refreshing."

Eugene crossed his legs and chuckled. "To be honest I don't like it one bit. But I'd be an idiot if I didn't accept accommodations such as this."

Cain looked out the window to see the jet fighter from earlier only a few hundred feet away. "Now that's what I call an accommodation." He pointed. The general leaned to look out the window and saw the plane he was pointing to.

"Budget spending at its finest." He remarked.

"Indeed."

As the plane was nearing its destination, the general handed him a dossier of the first member they were going to pick up. Cain sifted through the folder which contained various documents, such as military career and personal life, all the things he needed to see who exactly was joining him. Oddly enough there was no portrait of this person. The general noticed him looking for that specific item and chimed in.

"You're not gonna find a photo of her Cain. It's part of Erusian policy, as mysterious as it sounds." Cain looked over her profile as the general made a synopsis of it.

"Her name is Sara'Zoe Hachur, a Superus Magus of the Erusian Empire. She is one of, if not the most powerful mages that they have to offer. I'd be careful about the way you address her Cain. Their people consider a Superus to be chosen by the gods to protect their land and they treat them as such, so don't disrespect her or anyone on the embassy."

"You know me Hanowitz. I actually think before I speak." Cain continued to read her profile.

Hanowitz continued. "There really isn't much else known about her personal life. She spent most of it traversing the continent, honing her abilities and going where the trouble is."

Cain took another sip. "Don't you find it weird that they're offering her to us? It sounds like her people really need someone like her to stick around."

"Hell, I wouldn't know. Try asking them when we get there. But for now, sit back and relax while we still have the time. I've heard that Erusia is a beautiful place."

The jet began its descent through the low clouds towards the airstrip in the outskirts of Fulvitrum. It was impossible to see through them until it reached a low enough altitude and before them was a beautiful sight; the city of glass in all of its glory. Both passengers remained speechless as they stared at the bright blue skyscrapers that playfully refracted the sunlight to give them a brilliant sheen. As the city rolled closer into their view, they saw a mountain range in the distance that some of the city rested itself on. Cain turned to the old man who gave an, 'I told you so', look in return.

Soon enough they landed at the airport and departed to a VTOL aircraft that awaited nearby. Cain asked where the embassy was located and the general stated that it was near the queen's palace in the mountains. The VTOL ascended to a height just above the tips of the buildings, safe from colliding into them. They passed them close enough to see faint blurs of people through the transparent glass. It was obvious that they had no sense of privacy and it came as a surprise to him; he has never seen such an open society. The thought of others peeking at your business only made him realize how much he would hate living here. Cain looked down towards the city avenues where he noticed the lack of any sort of transportation and more so, pavement. The ground was just its bare roots; grass. rocks and whatever were left after the world was created. A bright flash of light hooked his attention a few blocks over. He saw what looked like erusians coming out of teleportation right next to a strange glowing node and immediately questioned Hanowitz.

"From what I know, it's some sort of conduit that the erusians can tap into. It takes them to different areas of the city as well as other parts of the continent."

Cain looked up to get a better visual of the city as a whole and was amazed to see the flashes darting every which way. It was something that was beyond their comprehension and it told them how advanced their civilization has become. It made him wonder why they wouldn't share this technology. Perhaps they were afraid of misuse? Or maybe they still weren't ready to connect with the world or vise versa?

The craft landed on a flat area near the palace since there was no designated landing zone. The magnificent view of the city from the mountain garnered his attention, but only for so long. The two of them were greeted by awaiting guards who, surprisingly, appeared to be unarmed and lightly armored. They all boasted similarities that further shrouded them in mystery. For one, they were all barefoot, something that was not too common in the other lands, especially the Basatins. They looked strikingly similar to humans and he noted strange light blue stripes that ran up their necks, onto various parts of their faces. The arrangements weren't random; they were symmetric and each of them possessed a unique pattern. One of the guards stepped forward, presumably the head, and asked them of their affairs.

"Outsiders. What brings you here to the palace of Queen Zaraya?"

Hanowitz tipped his cap and waved his hand at the patch on his suit. "Do I have to point it out to you?"

The guard scrunched his eyes as he looked at the decorative piece. It took him a moment to figure out that these were the two to visit the embassy today.

"Ah yes. General Hanowitz. Stryker of red special forces. You're a bit early, but that is never a bad thing. Please follow."

They trailed the guards in front of them with the sight of the palace capturing their gazes. It was made of the same blue glass as the other buildings, but unlike its pointy brethren, the palace assumed a more smooth and rounded structure. Cain reminded himself of Hanowitz' smart ass welcoming call and nudged him in his side and whispered.

"Hey, I thought you said to show respect?"

"I said for the embassy and Miss Sara'Zoe. Besides, I can't stand being called an outsider. I'm a general for god's sake."

Taken into the palace, they took their first glances at the inside of erusian architecture and were not disappointed at what they saw. The interior was made entirely of transparent stones varying from the exterior green, to white rectangular patterns on the floor. Cain's armor and his cohort's shoes drowned out the sounds of the quiet footsteps of their escort. The hallways held tables with aging artifacts and portraits who were assumed to be of royalty or high social status and also erusians who were intrigued by the presence of foreigners. They stared at them, not in an awkward manner, but of one which was almost inviting. Rounding a corner, they stopped in front of a large double wooden door. The head guard told them to wait until the embassy called for them when they were ready. And at that, they departed and left the two of them to wait for who knows how long.

After a few shifts of the collar and a last check for any scuffs, the door was opened for them by the doorman and three erusians in cloaks stood behind a wide desk, waiting for their entry.

Hanowoitz spoke softly before they approached. "Oh and before I forget, some erusians are capable of reading people's minds at will, so try not to think of anything that's questionable. I'm sure they'll respect your privacy since you and I are outsiders, but if they have a reason to, they will."

"Don't worry, I'll give them the good old Stryker charm."

"That a boy."

Two seats awaited for them on the near side of the desk and they made their way until the they were just on the opposite side of them. The three erusians bowed their heads in unison and they followed suite. The female in the center introduced herself and the other males with a soft voice.

"General Hanowitz and Mr. Stryker of R.E.D.. My name is Chancellor Santanos and these are the other members of our cabinet, Mr. Tinil and Mr. Chenkis. It's refreshing to see some new faces. Welcome to the capital of Erusia."

"We are honored Chancellor." Cain spoke. "I never imagined this place to be so beautiful."

Santanos flexed her wrist as she happily received the complement. "Oh Stryker, we try our hardest to maintain our cities at their finest, but enough sweet talk. Lets get down to business, shall we?"

She motioned for them to take a seat and they did so without haste. The three cabinet members did the same and awaited for one of them to speak.

Hanowitz crossed his legs and folded his hands. "The dossier I received told me that Sara'Zoe is a very capable mage, but it mentions nothing about her life before she became a Superus. I'd like to know more about her."

She tilted her head, amused by his lack of knowledge of the high mages. "You misunderstand General. A Superus Magus is born with that title. It isn't handed out to them at a later point in life. After he or she is discovered to be chosen by the gods, they are sent on a retreat to become closer to them; to practice magics that any other erusian would never even imagine of learning. This process can take many years, General, and Sara'Zoe has moved on well beyond that time. Now she is a servant to the deities that watch over us, becoming their actions, striking down those who wish to cause harm. She has no past. This is something that she has been doing for the course of her entire life."

Hanowitz nodded his head slowly, satisfied with what he had to hear. Cain remembered the question he wanted to ask back on the jet and quickly spat it out before he forgot.

"If she's as strong as you say, then why are you handing her over? Don't you need someone like her to stay to watch over your people?"

Tinil answered him. "Sara'Zoe isn't the only Superus that exists; there are two others besides her. Although she is the wisest and most powerful among them, we feel that she is being put into good hands."

"Thank you." Hanowitz said as Cain looked over to him.

"She will make an excellent addition to the team." The Chancellor placed her hands on the desk. "And will compliment your strengths and protect you of your weaknesses."

"And I will do the same for her." Cain remarked.

She chuckled. "Yes, of course."

Chenkis leaned over and whispered something inaudible into the Chancellor's ear, which kept the two humans interested into what they're planning. To their surprise, she stood up and gestured all to do the same.

"Gentlemen. I think it's time for you to get acquainted with your new squad mate."

The door to their right opened, and in stepped the woman they were looking for. Just like the guards, she had pale white skin and wore little armor. Golden grieves protected her shins and the tops of her bare feet and armor of the same color covered her forearms. Otherwise, there was only white cloth that fit snug to her body with oval cutouts along her waist, showing off her curvy figure and skin. Familiar, symmetrical blue stripes streaked from the collar of her shirt up to her neck, which then split into two more stripes which ended beneath her valiant green eyes and the sides of her head which disappeared underneath a thin golden headband etched with curious markings that covered her forehead. Long, black hair trailed behind her as she made elegant strides towards them.

Cain realized that his jaw dropped, struck by her beauty, and he quickly closed it in hopes that she didn't notice. He kept his mind clear of any rash thoughts knowing that she would be capable of seeing into it, but it became harder for him as she got closer. Now face to face, she was a lot taller than he expected, gaining at least an inch or two on him. None of them spoke a word. Cain stared at her face; he remembered it from somewhere. And then it hit him. He felt his heart jump.

_She's from – _

The Chancellor pretended to cough, breaking the silence. "Gentlemen. This is – "

She waved her hand at Satanos, who quickly closed her mouth. She spoke with aggression, but a slight hint of gentleness cowered behind it. "I can speak for myself, Chancellor." She slowly placed her arm at her side without taking her eyes off of Cain, as if he boasted her inquisitiveness. "My name is Sara'Zoe Hachur. It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Stryker, General Hanowitz."

Instinctively, Cain offered his hand to her and she gladly slipped in her fingers, pleased by the sense of courtesy as he gently squeezed them. Hanowitz did the same and shown politeness that the soldier rarely ever sees.

"Likewise Miss. Hachur."

"I'm happy to see politeness from foreigners." She looked back to Cain. "But please, such hospitality isn't necessary. I am a part your team now, Stryker, and I wish to be treated as you would treat those that serve under you." She fell on her knees in front of him, placing the palms of her hands together. "I am your servant."

Cain raised a brow and took a step back. This wasn't exactly how he thought this was going to go about. Satanos saw his reaction and explained the meaning behind her action.

"No need to worry, Stryker. Her services extend to you now and a prayer for a blessing from the gods is analogous to signing a contract from where you come from. She is wishing for no harm to come to any of you."

"And this blessing will extend to the others as our team grows." She said as she got up off the ground and turned to face cabinet. "I am ready to depart now."

"Very well then." Said the Chancellor. "Good luck at the council meeting tomorrow and may the gods be with you." The cabinet bowed their heads as the three of them left for the next target on their list.

The plane ride was as quiet as ever. Each of them sat in their own seats as they all minded their own business, except for Cain who looked at the erusian. It was strange, she was very talkative only a few moments ago, and there she was just staring out of the window, sitting in the most upright posture.

"You don't look so comfortable. Everything okay?" He asked. She moved her head slowly and locked eyes with him.

"Yes. I am not used to luxuries such as this. As a person of my status, nature is all that I need."

"Well, we share something in common then."

"Is that so?"

He nodded. "I lived my life only needing the simple things. In the military, I learned to never take stuff like that for granted."

"I'm glad they taught you that. From what I heard, the people outside of Erusia rely on tools and machines to get through everyday life. It sounds so...unethical."

He chuckled. "Tell me more about your society. No one has really ever taken the time to settle in and understand your kind." As soon as he finished speaking he felt something hit him in the back of the head and looked on the floor to see an empty plastic bottle.

"Another time you two. We're almost at our next location, the United Keidran Emirates. The embassy is meeting us at their main military base. You know the drill Cain." Hanowitz handed him another folder. This time it was a wolf named Jargo Finch. But this was no ordinary wolf. He was a cyborg. According to his profile, he was part of a tactical operation that sabotaged supply chains of an infamous terrorist organization known as the White Hand. The mission was successful until a roadside bomb destroyed their escape vehicle, mauling his body to pieces. And ever since, he has been living in an armored shell that he created. Information about his identity was eventually leaked from a double agent and the organization got their revenge by executing his family, children included.

"Gods, he has no family and he has to rely on machines in order to live." She whispered and gently rubbed her hand on the portrait of his face.

"He even had the will to design his suit. That's like building your own coffin." Cain said, continuing to read on.

"And that's why we need someone like him." Hanowitz said. "He's an engineering genius and possesses an iron will. A soldiers best attribute."

"Lets hope he still has a fighting spirit." Cain remarked as he felt tingles in his side from the plane's rapid descent, approaching a secluded military base in the forest, in the middle of what was the old wolf territory.

The base was a lot bigger than they thought; the planes made it look deceptively small. Keidran of all kinds can be seen walking around, with some jogging, doing tasks that soldiers normally do. Ever since the Keidran territories united, they have become the largest and fastest growing nation, utilizing the traits of all keidran kind. Looking into the hangars, they see a few wolves and foxes doing maintenance on a huge bomber. It was something that was inconceivable many years ago. A wolf and a fox working together. Those were only false dreams.

Tigers could be seen patrolling in an armored car with a heavy machine gun mounted on top, as it crossed over the tarmac towards a fortified electric fence past the hangars. Cain glimpsed at Sara'Zoe, whose face was accompanied by a uncomfortable twitch. The feeling of asphalt beneath her feet was felt unnatural, and it was something that she knew she had to get used to. Two guards armed with assault rifles along with a wolf dressed in formal officer attire awaited them by the doors that led inside a three story building. As they met, the officer shook their hands and welcomed them.

"Excellent timing. The members of the embassy have just arrived. Please follow me."

As with any large base, the inside of it was bustling with officers and soldiers who were scuffling about, holding papers and shouting names. It was a scene that Cain was all too familiar with. It almost felt like home. They took an elevator to the third floor and exited to a hallway which was lined with offices for those higher up in the military chain.

"The meeting will take place in the meeting room at the end of the hallway." The officer spoke. "You'll be happy to know, General Hanowitz, that General Klinchoff will be attending."

The name didn't ring a bell to the two of them, but the old man's face said otherwise as the slightest smirk crept upon it. Cain wasn't sure what to make of it. Was he an old friend of his? Or perhaps a rival? In about the next ten seconds they were going to find out. The officer entered first, followed by Hanowitz and the rest. The people inside who were sitting saw the group enter and immediately rose from their seats to greet them. Shock struck everyone as the old man walked to a bulky, gold button-downed, fancy looking wolf and shook his hand while welcoming him in the most controversial way.

"Nice to see you, you wet dog." A sense of laughter in his voice. The weathered wolf perked his ears and answered in the same fashion.

"Glad to see you make it, prune bag."

All others couldn't believe what just transpired. The tiger who stood at the far end of the table shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Gentlemen! If you haven't noticed, you are in the presence of the Kiedran Emirates embassy! Please save you incivility for later."

Hanowitz, who looked upset from the tiger's interjection, leaned in and whispered his last words before sitting down at the table.

"We'll catch up later."

The rest seated themselves at the long table, waiting for one of the keidran to speak. A fox adjusted his tie and introduced himself along with his three accomplices. He held a curious stare as he set his eyes on the erusian. It was obvious he, and possibly the other members of the embassy, has never seen one before.

"I'm happy to see that everyone has arrived safely. Us four are representatives of each Keidran country." He looked over to her once more. "And I presume this is Miss Sara'Zoe; such a beautiful sight." She bowed her head from the compliment. "Mr. Stryker. It is an honor." He did the same. "As you can see, Sergeant Finch hasn't arrived just yet. He's...how should I say...preoccupied at the moment."

The wolf representative spoke. "In the mean time we can discuss exactly what Jargo has to offer."

"Yes." A dog intervened. "Jargo is an interesting character. From what you read in his dossier, he is one of our top tiered engineers. He has a keen eye for detail; he was involved in Project Shadow Wing; he is capable of bypassing security systems and of course, you know about the suit."

"Speaking of which" Cain said. "How do we know he's combat ready? If I were him, I'd be traumatized from what happened."

The tiger spoke up. "We understand your concern, Stryker, but Jargo has seen active service after the incident, and he's performing just as good as before, if not better. You won't be disappointed and you'll find his skills accustomed to your needs."

Sara'Zoe looked the tiger in the eyes. "I don't doubt his combative capability, but I'm more interested in his past relationship with his family. No one should have to go through that pain."

"It's sad that he had to suffer," Klinchoff answered for her. "but he is a gentle man, especially with his family. He raised two sons to learn about the technological field and he did everything he could to ensure that they wouldn't join the military."

"Why is that?" Cain asked.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't want them to be in the line of fire."

"That sounds a little selfish of him. His children should be allowed to decide for themselves." Sara'Zoe said.

"I wouldn't call it selfish." Klinchoff eyed the erusian. "He wanted his sons to live normal lives, free from the burden of taking someones life, and I wouldn't blame him. It changes you. Most of the time for the worst."

They continued to delve into his life before the incident and how he treated his wife like gold whenever he was on leave. Unbeknownst to them, a behemoth strolled down the hallway towards them, with heavy footsteps, until he stood at the entrance to the meeting room. Klinchoff and the four reps halted their conversation to look up to the mechanical beast, making the others question to why they have stopped. The three of them turned to see a giant in red and black metal armor. The only thing that distinguished himself as a wolf was his head that protruded out of the suit, but even then, his face wasn't entirely organic as he stared with an unnatural gleaming red eye while the other appeared to be a normal blue. The armor looked thick and sturdy and his metal legs took the shape of keidran feet. He panned about the room, looking at each person individually, waiting for someone to speak up. When he realized they weren't going to talk, he did so himself.

"What." He looked around one last time, leaning against the door frame . "Was it something I did?"

Klinchoff smiled and stood, inviting him to come in. "Jargo! Fashionably late as always."

"Sorry about that." He walked into the room as the others got up. "I was just finishing up an interrogation."

"How'd it go?"

"Eh. The poor lad wouldn't bite, so I made sure he got a mouth full of cold, steel tabletop."

The fox smiled. "It is good to see you Jargo."

He nodded in reply and looked at the human and then at the erusian. "Is this them?"

The embassy nodded in unison and Jargo approached the human, extending his metal casing of an arm. "Cain Stryker I presume? I've heard a lot about you. That was some damn fine work that you did during Operation Archer."

It took a moment for Cain to realize that he was offering a handshake since he was to busy being surprised at how tall the wolf was. Eventually, he saw his opened claws and shook it with a tight grip. The wolf then walked over to the other side and smiled gently at the erusian and bowed his head.

"It is true what they say about your kind. Such grace and elegance. I'd never thought I'd get the chance to see one. And now that I did, I can say that I've looked into the heavens."

"That's kind of you to say but please, don't flatter me." She stared into his eyes and saw the remnants of a shattered soul. "We are here to help you."

"No, we are here for each other. I don't need sympathy."

Sar'Zoe remained quiet, impressed by his ability to control his emotions. The wolf then made his way to Hanowitz and shook his hand.

"It's a pleasure, General."

"Likewise."

The tiger smiled as he saw that everyone was getting along. "I don't want to keep you all waiting. So, we'll let you depart by saying this; Remember Jargo, you are representing our nation. Do us proud."

The wolf saluted them and left one final statement before turning to leave with the others back to the jet.

"Just let me know if the guy talks."

It was a similar scene from when they departed with Sara'Zoe. Each of them sat alone, with the wolf examining the cabin, admiring its lavish appearance.

"You've got a nice thing going on here, General." Jargo commented.

"As much as I hate it, I have to live with it." Hanowitz lit up a smoke.

"Come on. I'd kill for something like this while on duty." The wolf leaned back into the chair, enjoying the luxury while he had the time. The erusian kept to herself, while Cain thought of a way to bring up the subject about his deceased family without hurting his feelings. He knew that the wolf was masking his sorrow and he wanted to express his condolences. But how? Maybe being brunt is the only option here.

"Jargo." The wolf sat back into his normal position. "I'm sorry about your loss. I don't understand how you can be so level-headed about it. If I were you, I'd want revenge."

The wolf chuckled. "Cain, there were many, many times where depression has crept on me. But I've learned to ignore it." He laughed softly again. "And revenge? You have no idea what kind of measures I've taken to try and find the bastards that did this. Remember the interrogation I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that was one of the members of the White Hand; the ones who took everything from me. And now he no bones on which to even crawl back." He scrunched forward and leaned himself on his knees and slowly shook his head. "If you guys never showed up, I would have probably killed him. It felt so good to finally have an attempt at getting answers, and I was just so...so frustrated when he wouldn't talk." He sighed and sat back up. "I won't be able to live again until I find those reponsible."

Cain got up and put his hand on his shoulder. "I will make it my duty to find these people, and we'll bring them to justice."

"That's not good enough. They deserve to die." Jargo clenched his fist.

"You'll be just as savage as they are, killing them in cold blood." Sara'Zoe interjected.

The wolf looked her down with cold eyes. "Why should they deserve to live when it's obvious they take life for granted? They don't care who dies or who gets in their way! As long as they spread their message!"

"That's still not the right way of going about it. Everyone has the right to trial. If the world solved its problems by – "

"In your opinion." The wolf interrupted her, gesturing with his hand. "Terrorists, aren't worthy of a second chance, especially the White Hand." His voice lowered and drowned out. "They should all just drop dead."

Sara'Zoe rolled her eyes and turned away, seeing as it was pointless arguing with him.

"Hey, Hey." Cain attempted to soothe him. "Like I said, I promise we'll find whoever did this."

The wolf sighed, closed his eyes and nodded. "Thanks, Stryker. I hope we do."

Hanowitz got up from his seat and walked to the the fridge and whipped out a bottle of vodka. He poured some into a small glass, mixed it with tonic and handed it to the wolf.

"This should calm your nerves."

Jargo said his thanks and downed it in one go. "Is this 80 proof?" He smacked his lips as the general shook his head. "It'll do for now."

It was turning into evening as the sky shifted to a majestic orange hue that reflected off of the deep blue of the Grand Ocean. The quiet hums of the engines was all that could be heard as they sat in quietness, waiting to reach their final destination. Cain noticed a pattern emerging with the old man's behavior; he would always wait until the last moment to show the next dossier. But why? Does he enjoy the thrill of spur of the moment action? No, he was thinking too hard. He knows Hanowitz. He's a lazy bastard and a procrastinator at best. He'll always piece up some crazy plan at the last second, and by the luck of the gods do they work, for the most part. Maybe that's why he was chosen to become a general; a master plan always bottled up in him somewhere. Cain's train of thought was interrupted as the general smacked and rubbed his hands together, excited that they were nearing completion.

"Alright! Final stop folks. The Basatin Federation." He handed a folder to Cain who then distributed some files to the others.

"This guy should be the most interesting one yet. He's an ex military man; goes by the name of Sebastian Dagas, aka the Shadow Knight." Hanowitz quoted the profile from memory.

"Says here he was one of their best snipers, and then went vigilante after being fed up with big brother." Jargo flipped through the pages.

"A vigilante?" Cain spoke in her direction. "Sounds similar to what you do Sara'Zoe."

"Not quite." She kept her focus on the paper. "Unlike them, we abide ourselves to law." She then crossed her legs and hummed curiously. "It seems the Basatin government didn't like the idea of an elite sniper loose on the streets."

Cain perked his head up. "What do you mean?"

"He's being held in confinement as we speak." She licked her fingertips and flipped to the next page.

"Great, so now we have to plan a jailbreak?" Jargo crossed his arms.

"Not so fast." Hanowitz raised his hand. "The government has him under control until we take him off their hands. He's been locked up for quite some time; I think its been about...three or four months now. We will be meeting with the lieutenants to discuss his release."

"Oh boy." Jargo huffed. "Talking with them is like trying to hold a conversation with a brick wall." He grazed his chin with his fingers. "Come to think of it, I think I'd rather do the latter."

Cain shrugged his shoulders. "It can't be that bad. The Basatins have become a lot more open with relations compared to a while back."

"True, but their stubbornness hasn't improved much. So what else do we know about him?"

"Lets see." Sara'Zoe scanned the page. "His stealthiness and expertise in explosives has kept the police force at bay, until he was captured two years later after he resigned from the military. He has no immediate family; no wife or children. He has lived a life of solitude."

"I hope he doesn't mind working alongside us, then." Cain peered over her shoulder to read the document.

The erusian looked up to him. "It will most likely take some time for him to get used to having teammates, seeing as how he worked alone."

The plane began to rock from turbulence and the cabin dimmed as they passed through a low thundercloud. The pilot notified that they were approaching the isles and asked for them to buckle up, just in case things get a bit more hairier. The cabin lit up for a split second as bolts of lighting streaked through the clouds, striking whatever laid below them. The clouds opened up as the jet lowered towards a private runway near the castle and the city at the base of the mountain glowed yellow from the lights veering from the buildings, contrasting from the darkness caused by the gray skies. Modernization has struck well on the isles. The city below contain many tall commercial buildings aligned in a perfect grid to allow the most effective flow of traffic. It made sense though, since the basatins were always known for their innovation in architecture and civil engineering. The only remnants of the days of olde were the castle that sat along the mountains, frozen in time, and the giant statues at the opening of the main port, welcoming those who wish to visit their great nation. Rain splattered against the windows as the plane eased up on its speed and landed on the small airstrip.

The jet's engines began to die down as all four of them scattered off of the tarmac to avoid being soaked in the rain. Several escorts awaited them by a nearby enclosed, stone corridor that connected with the castle. The guards instantly recognized them and guided them towards the innards of the ancient behemoth. Inside, they admired the cleanliness and preservation of the abode, especially the marble floor which looked like it hasn't aged. Many portraits of previous kings and those of the current hierarchy flooded the walls of the foyer and they noticed that the castle was entirely empty, save a few guards here and there. They were led down a large hallway to their right with tall, heavy doors that opened up to the main courtroom.

"The counsel awaits you." One of the guards waved them onward.

Red carpet guided them center stage where five lieutenants sat on their pedestals, looking down on them as they approached. Off to their right they saw two armed soldiers clenching the arms of a blindfolded and cuffed basatin, dressed in a dull blue prisoners uniform. It was difficult to see his physique, but it was safe to assume that he was toned to an extent because of the natural nimbleness of a sniper, but compared to other basatins he was considered to be scrawny. The lieutenant directly in front of them spoke as they settled in.

"Welcome. Welcome to the Basatin Isles. I am Lieutenant Alabaster the eighth, leader of counsel before you." He motioned his hand towards the bound basatin. "As you can see, we have our package waiting for pickup."

"I am not your property." The basatin mumbled.

"What was that?!" Alabaster snarled. "You were not given permission to speak! I suggest you stay quiet or else I'll redact your release and throw you back in the cells!"

"I think I'd rather be executed than rot inside prison."

"Is that so?" Alabaster crossed his arms.

A sense of anger was in the captive's voice. "You've taken over five months of life; time which is unrecoverable. And for what? Doing what the government has failed to do? Protecting the citizens from the true villains that is this, so-called military dictatorship? You bring shame to our ancestors. I am the voice of my people and my death will justify my actions and open their eyes to reality." He then held the most amused smirk. "So yes, I'd prefer execution, but I'm not going down without a fight first."

A loud clink emanated from where Sebastian was standing as his handcuffs struck the floor. One of the soldiers who held his arms loosened his grip while he was distracted by the noise, giving Sebastian the chance he needed to rip his arm free. Quickly, he grabbed the soldier's holstered pistol and smacked his unprotected temple with the butt of the gun, knocking him out cold. The second soldier let go of Sebastian's other arm to ready his assault rifle, a mistake that he will regret. The soldier aimed the rifle at him, but it was knocked out his grip with a swing of Sebastian's arm. Seeing as how his body was wide open, he charged in and threw a rib shattering punch which caused the soldier to bend over in pain, which then gave the basatin the opportunity uppercut him in the jaw, knocking him flat on on the floor. He then removed his blindfold, grabbed a duffel bag located on a table next to him and dumped out its contents. A strange looking belt was among the items and he grabbed it and pressed a button and faded into invisibility. Alabaster, shocked to see his captive subdue his holders, yelled at the top of his lungs for reinforcements.

"Guards! Guards! He is on the loose! Use any force necessary to prevent his escape!"

Dozens of troops entered the room, guns drawn, with at least four guarding the only way out of the court. Cain and the others stood there, not knowing if they should intervene. He looked over to Hanowitz who only shook his head, signifying that they should let the basatins deal with it. The soldiers frantically scanned the room, while the members of the counsel jolted from their seats, frightened for their lives. Alabaster gripped his pistol and yelled out to the escapee.

"There's no use trying to escape! The only exit to this room is blocked off and – " The lieutenant froze as he felt an arm wrap around his chest and the coldness of a barrel against his head. Sebastian de-cloaked behind him and instantly all of the soldiers took aim at him.

"I may not be able to run, but at least I'll be taking you out with me. The revolution starts here." He pressed the gun harder against Alabaster's skull.

Cain reached his arm out and pleaded with the basatin. "Sebastian, no! Don't do this!"

The basatin looked down at the human while holding his hostage firmly. He knew who he was as soon as he set eyes on him. "This has nothing to do with you Cain! I must set an example. To save this place from further humiliation."

"We can make this work! Nobody has to die!"

Sara'Zoe took a step forward and reinforced Cain's statement. "Listen to him Sebastian! There is no point in killing him. It won't achieve anything."

He placed his finger on the trigger. "You don't know that. My actions here will dictate the future."

"Another stubborn fool." She muttered, realizing that words were no longer relevant and that action was the only way of saving them both. Her right hand glowed a bright blue until a small orb formed and fit perfectly into her palm. She wound her arm back and flung it forward, causing the ball to stretch and form a whip-like entity. The whip cut through the air with a loud whoosh, wrapping itself around Sebastian's gun and ripping it out of his hands. She then thrust her other arm with an open palm and unleashed an invisible force that knocked the basatin off his feet, pinning him to wall behind him. Sebastian wide eyed the erusian. The rate at which she unleashed those spells was incredible and it gave him almost no time to react. Looking at his predicament, Sebastian knew that there was no way out of this now.

Hanowitz spoke up before the counsel did anything rash. "We can still end this peacefully. Perhaps a deal?"

"A deal?" Alabaster spat. "This lunatic nearly killed me! He must be put to death!"

"How about this?" Cain crossed his arms. "We take him off your hands; you never have to see him again; and he will remain under my watch."

The lieutenant rubbed his goatee and pondered. "Hmm. It benefits all of us and it saves tax payers money." He looked back towards the human. "Stryker you are blunt, yet convincing. I will agree to your terms under one condition." He then turned to the pinned basatin. "If he ever returns to the isles, I will do whatever it takes to see him put down."

"Understood." He then looked at the erusian. "Sara'Zoe. You can bring him down now."

She did as commanded and retracted her arm which caused Sebastian to float over, safely landing on the ground in front of them.

"Could I at least get my stuff back?"

He was answered when Sara'Zoe made the same motion, as before, with her arm, flinging the duffel bag along with the pile of stuff and hitting him in the side, nearly causing him to fall over.

"Whoops. I overestimated." She smirked.

Sebastian growled at her and gathered his belongs, hastily stuffing them into the bag. He placed the bag over his shoulder, never turning to face the counsel, and nodded his head at Cain, signaling that he was ready to go.

Aboard the plane, the rain refused to cease as the storm engulfed a majority of the Grand Ocean. Sebastian took refuge in the lavatories to change into something he was more familiar with. Hanowitz waited for his return before he debriefed for the next course of action. The jet rocked violently as they got deeper into the low pressure system; they wondered how the basatin was making out, but they soon found out when they heard grumbling and a few curse words through the door.

Hanowitz laughed at the events that transpired back at the castle. "Heh, usually I'm the one doing the negotiating."

"Is everything a joke to you?" Sara'Zoe asked before taking a sip of herbal tea.

"Of course not, Sara'Zoe. There are points in time where its time to get serious, but for the most part I like to relax and just think about how silly the past can be sometimes. I usually get a good laugh about it."

"You know," Jargo pointed at the general. "I like ya Eugene. It's a shame that most officials are too busy being hardasses."

Cain, who was listening in on their conversation, spotted Sebastian leaving the bathroom, slamming the door in frustration. The basatin changed into his typical attire which gave himself a hitman look. He wore an unzipped, short-sleeved, black duster over a light brown leather vest which holstered a few magazines in its pockets and appeared to hold five inch rounds; a size typically used for anti material rifles. A hefty brown belt secured his black cargo pants with pads that wrapped around his knees and a brown glove was worn on his right hand. And of course, with all basatins, his feet were properly covered with white bandages. He took a cigar out of one of his vest pockets and felt around for something else. He grunted before muttering, "Must of dropped it." and asked Hanowitz if he had a light after giving up his search. The general reached into a cupboard and tossed him a lighter, which Sebastian caught and lit his cigar. He took a few satisfying puffs before settling into a seat, gazing at the erusian. She felt his stare and turned to lock with his brown eyes. She was unsure what he wanted. Was he angry because of her interference? The long silence made her feel uneasy.

"Thanks." He finally spoke.

"For what?" She asked in a surprised tone.

He patted his cigar to break off its burnt end. "I almost threw my life away. Such a stupid thing for me to do. I knew you came for me, but I was blinded by my own hopes of ending their tyranny." White smoke flew from his nose. "One day I will expose them for the corrupt bigots they are."

Cain slouched over and rested himself on his arms. "So what exactly is the government doing that's pissing you off so much?"

"A lot more than the people realize. The crime rate is the highest its ever been in decades; taxes are over the top; government spending is going to areas unknown, and all of this is just going right over the their heads. I had to do something. So that's when I decided to take matters into my own hands and abused my military experience and clearance to track where the money was going and to put down the kingpins of the big criminal organizations."

Jargo chuckled. "So you were like some behind the scenes superhero, kind of like the ones I used to watch on tv as a kid."

He shrugged. "I suppose. Although my popularity did grow to the point where I was given the title, the 'Shadow Knight.' And that's where it all eventually caught up to me. Being renowned the way I was, the government sent its best agents to find me. Took them a hell of a long time, but there are only so many places to hide on that cramped home of an island."

Cain shifted his attention to the general. "So, Eugene. The team is assembled. I assume the council is the next step?"

"Bingo." He pointed at him. "We will be staying in a nearby complex until the council meeting tomorrow morning."

A couple hours have passed and the night sky started to make its presence. The half moon rose high above the horizon being caressed by mixtures of fiery red and a soothing blue; two extremes that met to create an amazing swirl of color. Sara'Zoe sat in silence as she basked in its serenity, while the others dozed off to pass the time. Eventually, they woke up from the bumpiness of the landing and found themselves in Ibon City, home of the council, located on the UKE and human border in the northeast. Very little sightseeing was done. The group was weary from their travels and headed directly to one of the hotels on the strip, where soft beds waited for them.

Morning quickly came and they wasted no time getting in the armored limo that taxied outside the building. The vehicle veered in and out of traffic as they took note of how prevalent the military presence was here, but it wasn't too far fetched; this is a universal government establishment after all. Soon, the structure that housed the council came into view. It stood tall and proud, constructed by all four races only several years ago. It was a sign of a new future. A future of unity. The limo pulled up to the large, white structure and the five of them got out only to be greeted by two lines of soldiers mixed inter-racially, forming a path up the steps for them to walk down. They stood strong and proud without moving a muscle as the group walked by them, heading towards the doors that lead to the council with the flags of all four great nations waving at its base. The doors at the top were already opened and they stepped inside the foyer to see two sets of hallways both left and right, and another set of doors in front of them in which two soldiers opened upon seeing them. Beyond it, sat the council where all four council members rose as the group came close. One of the figureheads, a human wearing a suit and bow tie, raised his hands up and spoke to them in a familiar voice. It was none other than the president of Ania, the human lands, Kenneth Glandall.

"Hanowitz, Stryker, Hachur, Finch, and Dagas. The council of Mekkan welcomes you." They all bowed their heads.

"An interesting crew you have assembled there, Stryker." A male tiger, wearing similar attire as Glandall, commented, which Jargo recognized as Nellis Karvolk, the president of the UKE.

"And we couldn't have found a better leader." A hefty voice came from an older basatin, dressed in decorative armor with a red cape dangling from his shoulders. Sebastian squinted his eyes and masked his anger as he saw the ruler of the federation, King Risbertdon.

"Yes. When I first saw Stryker, I knew he was destined to lead. Such a strong, iron-willed man." A soft voice came from the most elegant of women. A white and blue, tight woven, one piece dress, parted on her right side, gave only an insight as to how beautiful she really was. A helix shaped, golden headpiece signified her position as queen of the erusian empire. Her perfect face was captured by the same stripes, almost similar to Sara'Zoe's, except hers spiraled at her cheeks before extending towards her temples and then disappeared under her brilliant, golden curly hair that flowed down to her rear.

Sara'Zoe's jaw dropped and she quickly looked down to the floor and got on one knee. "My queen! I am not worthy of your presence."

"You may rise." The queen lifted her hand up as if guiding her.

The erusian did as she was told and got back up, but her eyes were still aiming at the floor like she was afraid. It was strange seeing her deter from her normally stern and confident behavior, and the fact that she turned into a sweaty mess in front of the council by a few words from her superior made Cain wonder what this queen was all about. The others didn't seem to take note of this, however.

"Stryker, your team has been called and assembled for a reason. This next task for the four you is of the utmost importance, which is why this meeting is held in such secrecy." Glandall paced behind his podium. "To cut to the chase, as of the last two months, people have been disappearing. Humans to be more exact." A hologram appeared and separated the two parties. The images it shown were of various towns and small villages. Nothing seemed out of the norm until they noticed that each photo had their similarities where abandoned vehicles could be seen scattered along the streets, its occupants strangely vanishing. "The abductions started off small, but as of recently they have become more and more extensive with the latest one in Franselburg, topping at over five thousand missing oersons."

"And that's not all." Karvolk continued. "Although the humans have suffered from abduction, those who were of any other species were killed on sight and left behind." The hologram changed to pictures of bodies both basatin and keidran laying on lawns and on city streets. Their deaths were all the same. Bullet holes rattled their bodies with some executed with a single shot to the head.

"I smell the White Hand at work here." Jargo muttered.

"We thought so too." The queen spoke up. "But the operations have been executed flawlessly. There have been no reports to the authorities during these abductions; no signs of casualties or evidence, for that matter, from the unknown enemy; an operation that is far too organized even for a terror cell such as the White Hand."

"So I'm assuming no leads then." Cain said.

"There is something." King Risbertdon gripped the edges of the podium. "Our intelligence division, alongside Ania's, stationed fifty miles from Franselburg has intercepted a radio frequency during the last abduction a few days ago. It transmitted a message that gives away some location, just north of the Whitefield Ruins." He pressed a button on the console and the hologram shifted into an oscilloscope, pulsating as a male voice spoke.

'Invasion of Franselburg was a success. Zero casualties and 5,342 civilians have been captured. Message command to rendezvous with the strike force at 50.8524N, 73.1156W on the Crisp Sea. There, we will ready for an – ' The message fades out with static.

"That's just outside our territory." Cain observed.

"Indeed it is Stryker, and that's where you will be heading first." Glandall held his hand to his chin. "We must stop this before it gets any worse."

"Just how exactly are we gonna get there?" Jargo crossed his arms.

Cain looked at the wolf and noticed a smirk making its way onto Hanowitz' mouth. It was the type of smirk that yelled, 'I know something you don't.', and it made him wonder what he's hiding or better yet, what the council was hiding. They all opened their eyes a bit more after the queen spoke

"A special team such as yours requires its own base of operations." She looked at them all before continuing. "Lady and gentlemen. I present to you, the effort of all four nations working in parallel; the emblem of unity and your own personal frigate, The Concord."

The hologram transformed, again, into the shape of a medium sized ship. Cain bit his lower lip at the site of the magnificent vessel. Two wings extruded at the rear of the main fuselage, while two smaller fins stuck out towards the front end of the ship, giving it maximum maneuverability. The main body was curved to minimize drag, which then tinned out towards the bow, almost meeting at a point. The details of the ship were listed off to the side of the portrait. Two railguns underneath the wings for piercing armor, a gattling gun armed with antimana rounds for disabling shields towards the bow, countermeasures against enemy missiles, a missile system of its own, active stealth and cloak, the works. He heard drips coming from beside him and turned to see Jargo with his tongue hanging from his mouth and saliva consistently dripping. The ship was an engineer's dream, afterall.

"It is a combination of the highest technology that our nations have to offer. This will be your home while on active duty. You will patrol the world, waiting for the call, and you will strike without prejudice." Karvolk held his hands behind his back.

"And with every ship, there needs to be a captain to guide it." All four council members looked at Stryker.

"It is our honor to promote you, Stryker, to Captain of The Concord." Glandall tilted his head towards the general. "Hanowitz, if you could present him with the pin."

Hanowitz stepped in front of him with a pin, shaped in the rank of captain. He had a very serious look in his face as he eyed Cain, much more serious than that playful smile he held a few moments ago.

"It is an honor that I, General Hanowitz, promote you, Cain Stryker of R.E.D. Special forces, to the rank of captain." He said as he he placed the pin on the collar of his armor, glowing ever so subtly as it permanently stuck to the metal. "May your voyages serve us well." He then saluted.

Cain saluted back and whispered to the general. "I don't know anything about leading a ship!"

"Sure you do! You served under Admiral Jacobs for a reason. You'll do fine."

Cain stared into his eyes, still holding his salute, wondering just how long he has been planning this for. He worked under Jacobs several years ago and although he has learned a lot about how a ship and its functions, he has never commanded one himself. Cain rested his arm at his side. He knew it was time to make his speech. To thank the general for all that he's done for him, and to the council for trusting him with this kind of power.

"Thank you General. I will wear this pin with pride, knowing that you have always been looking out for me. I will command this ship with the utmost importance, and caution, when fighting this new enemy. We've assembled the best squad that this world has ever seen and I will put all of my effort into ensuring our success and our safety and the safety of others. We will put ourselves in the frontline to protect the innocents that walk this earth from this enemy and to any others that will dare to stand in our way. I, Captain Stryker of The Concord, thank you, the council, General Hanowitz, and all others who have supported us, for selecting me to lead this squad. We will do you proud."

The others looked on in aspiration from the captain's fine words. The council clapped after hearing his speech and the others joined in.

"Such a moving speech, Stryker." The queen commented after the clapping ceased. "I have a single and simple request for you before you begin your journey to the Crisp Sea."

"Yes, your majesty?" Cain bowed his head.

An unnoticed smile stretched across her lips after hearing his proper address to her. "I want you and your crew to visit me at my palace. There is something that I wish to give you that you will find useful."

"As you wish."

"The ship is in an underground hangar just behind this building. There is an elevator at the end of the hallway to your left that leads to the entrance." Karvolk gestured with his hand. "There, you will meet the rest of your crew."

Cain shook his head in acknowledgment.

"Oh! Before I forget." Hanowitz opened his hand once more to reveal four small electronic devices. "These are your holo-gear." The four of them grabbed the devices. "Place it somewhere on your body that's easy to reach. This will be your lifeline to the ship. It will be able to establish communications, provide maps of the area, and any type of information can be stored in it. Fiddle around with it when you get the chance."

They wasted no time attaching it to themselves. Cain and Jargo put theirs on their forearm, Sebastian put his on his glove, and Sara'Zoe, as reluctant as she was to place it on her beloved armor, fused it to her gauntlet.

The meeting was about to be concluded when the doors to the council room opened, and a soldier peeked his head in.

"Pardon the interruption. King Risbertdon, the Master General is on the line with urgent news. He requests your immediate attention."

The king grunted as he looked over to the other council members. "Pardon me for a few moments." The others motioned him to go ahead. They knew that the Isles were in an almost state of emergency due to criminal activity. It was his priority to ensure that order prevails. The king then stepped off the podium and walked out of the room.

"So now what?" Jargo shrugged.

"Technically, everything is said and done. You may leave now if you wish, but first." Glandall descended from his podium, followed by the others, and met Cain face to face, offering his hand for a shake. The captain firmly shook it, along with Karvolk's, and and gave a bow as the queen curtsied in front of him. They repeated the same gestures with his squad mates, except for Sara'Zoe who got on her knees once more to kiss the feet of her ruler.

"Good luck to all of you." Glandall said once more.

"Thank you – " Cain stopped mid sentence and everyone else stood completely still as they heard the sound of the air raid alarms. The alarms blared again followed by the sounds of faint explosions from anti-aircraft guns. A loud whirring sound faded in and got louder and louder as the seconds past. They all looked around, trying to hear the direction from which it was coming from and at this point they realized that sounds of the explosions has seized. Another soldier burst through the door screaming.

"Everybody out! Now!" He waved his hands, motioning us to move. "A plane is about to – "

His warning came too late. Before they could leave the building, a large explosion rocked the area as the fuselage of a large cargo plane ripped into the sides of the structure. Instinctively, everyone one dove to the ground and shielded themselves while they heard the sounds of collapsing walls and screeching girders crashing around them. Cain was the first one to rise after everything had settled. The heat of the crash was almost overwhelming; sweat already started to drip from his chin. He looked down to see the others still prone, covered in ash and debris.

"Is everyone okay?" He shouted.

Slowly, one by one, they all rose to their feet, checking for any missing limbs or cuts or bruisers. Sara'Zoe dashed over to the queen to inspect her, only to receive a nod.

"Yeah. I think everyone's good." Sebastian shook his head, trying to rid himself of shellshock.

Outside, they heard the yells of troops giving orders with small arms fire just beyond that. Was this the enemy that they were looking for? Cain wasn't going to find out by standing here. He reached over his back and grabbed his gun and rested the butt against his shoulder.

"Alright squad. This is it." He eyed the exit of the room. The others did the same and readied their weapons. "It's time to test our merit." He pumped his shotgun, readying the first round in his magazine. Their mission starts here.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Getting the council to safety was our top priority, Cain thought to himself. So much ran through his mind since the initial explosion. Who did this? Why did they do it? He couldn't sit around too much longer to think about it. Every second they were out in the open like this, the higher the danger. The smoke soon filled up the room in its entirety, and they couldn't stay any longer. It was time to move.

"Your orders Captain." Sara'Zoe held her hand up in a defensive manner, glimmering with blue light.

"Right." He coughed. "Staying here isn't an option. We're going to have to escort the council to the underground hangars. It's the safest place to be right now." He looked at the erusian. "Sara'Zoe. You can provide defense by shielding the glass from fire. Stick close to the council and make sure nothing gets through." She nodded. "Sebastian I need you to stay back and watch for any snipers or anyone that tries to come from the rear."

"Ready to pop some heads, sir." He cocked his rifle.

"And Jargo, you're point with me. Mow down anyone that gets in our way."

"Second best thing I've heard all day, Captain." He aimed down his assault rifle, testing the sights.

"We move as a single entity. No one gets left behind." Cain continued. "Move out!"

"Yes sir!" They said simultaneously.

Cain and Jargo were the first ones to leave the room and the first to get a glimpse at what was transpiring outside. It was still hard to tell, seeing as how the actual building was quite a ways up from street level. They heard more gunfire and the engine roars of armored vehicles. Cain quickly peaked outside and saw a small regiment of mixed troops taking cover behind shot up military vehicles. Most of them were starting making their way up the street, heading east, in an attempt to push back the assailants. Cain then saw the human soldier that tried to warn them of the incoming plane, leaning up against the door frame, with ash covering parts of his face. Luckily he was still breathing, but unconscious. He veered his head out of the door again and spotted an erusian crouching behind the stone railing of the steps and called out to him.

"Hey!" The erusian snapped his head towards him. "We got a man down over here! Can you patch him up?" The erusian nodded and carefully walked up the steps, making sure not to expose his head. A few bullets whizzed by and smacked the tips of the wall, causing the erusian to momentarily crouch lower. He made it to the top and examined the fallen soldier. As much as he wanted to question him about what happened, he knew he had to keep moving, and left with a simple 'thank you'.

With their guns at the ready, Cain and Jargo aimed down the length of the hallway which spanned a few hundred feet and made a sharp left at the end. It was lined with columns every thirty feet or so, that they could use for cover in case they encounter resistance. They began their trek, followed closely by the council and Sara'Zoe, who stood closest to the windows, shielding them as they go. Sebastian stayed behind and cloaked himself by the tops of the stairs and perched his rifle on the rail to get a steady aim. He looked down the scope to get a better view of the action. Zooming in he saw two pairs of forces, one of which were our own, making headway down the street, and another further back who were holding their lines, firing at them. He got a closer look at the enemy force, and wasn't surprised he saw an emblem on a trooper, resembling an open white hand.

'Typical.' He thought to himself. 'Might as well get a popshot.' He aimed for the soldiers head, who was ducking behind a disable car and fired, and instantaneously it exploded into a shower of blood with the body falling to the asphalt. Sebastian chuckled to himself. He missed the feeling of being able to cause terror from thousands of feet behind the frontlines. His laughter was subdued when he zoomed out and saw an enemy tank rounding a corner, which took aim at a group of soldiers hiding behind a recon vehicle. There was nothing he could do as he watched the vehicle explode and burst into flames, killing everyone around it.

"Damnit." He spoke to himself. He had to warn Stryker as to how dangerous this mission is becoming, but he struggled to figure out how to work the holo-gear, cursing under his breath as tried poking at the device on his hand.

'Why the hell won't you work? I wish general meat bag would of told us how to use these stupid things. I just need to send out a message to Stryker!' As he thought that, he heard a strange robotic voice in his head.

'Establishing connection to Captain Stryker.'

'Interesting, so you just have to think it, and it will work.'

Sebastian then heard his leader's voice in his head.

'Sebastian, what is it?'

'I found out who the enemy is here. It's the White Hand, and they have armor support at one o' clock. Things could get messy.'

'Roger that. We'll take it nice and slow. Just keep an eye out for those snipers. Oh, and connect to all three of us. Wouldn't want the others to miss out on information.'

'You got it.'

He aimed his rifle towards the other side of the street and took aim at the office buildings, looking for any sign of scope glare. It seemed everyone else was capable of using these technological misshapes. How come he wasn't aware of them?

"God damn. How much have I missed when I was in prison?"

"Everyone, stick close to the inner walls." Cain ordered both Hanowitz and the council. "I just got a message from Sebastian. The White Hand are behind this and they brought heavy equipment."

A low growl could be heard coming from Jargo's mouth, making his disgust for them known. "Good. Now I can let go of a little bit of anger."

The group continued its slow pace. The hallway was rattled with debris from the cracks in the walls for when the cargo plane struck and the floor shook as more explosions echoed in the background. Two White Hand troopers hiding behind the columns, two sections down, on either side of the hallway stepped out and opened a burst of fire before retreated back into cover. Jargo and Cain dashed to the walls, dodging the spray of bullets, and used the columns in front of them for protection. The others clung to the walls, one section behind them. Cain touched his hand to his chest, and a layer of green shielding protected him head to toe. He looked at the wolf with a small grin.

'Cover me while I go in.' He put his shotgun away and readied a blade like entity, formed out of magic, in his right forearm. The wolf nodded and smiled back at his request.

Cain bolted out of cover and charged towards the two soldier's hiding place. The two of them came out of cover, as expected, and opened fire on the captain with assault rifles. The bullets deflected every which way off of his shielded body. Jargo returned fire and struck one of them with a few bullets, making him collapse to the floor. Cain then thrust his blade into the remaining enemie's chest and slammed him into the wall, causing him to squirm and cough up blood. His blade vanished into thin air and the soldier fell to the floor with a thud, lifeless.

Their actions have caused unwanted attention from the streets, as more bullets hailed through the windows. Luckily the two of them ducked for cover while Sara'Zoe's shield stood strong, not phased by the gunfire. After the firing ceased, Cain ordered everyone to keep moving forward at a slow pace.

Sebastian knelt, comfortably nested, on the steps, continuing to watch the high ground for any movement, and unfortunately, no one was taking the bait. As much as he wanted to pick off the retreating forces, he had his orders, and remained locked on the glass buildings across from him. After a short while, he heard the sound of boots behind him. He turned to look and saw nothing there, but upon closer inspection, he noticed little ripples in the air, darting its way down the hallway towards the rest of the team. The basatin slung his rifle behind his back and drew a long bowie knife and sprinted up the stairs after the invisible foe. He was quickly catching up to the figure and made out the shape of a human wielding some sort of compact weapon. The figure stopped only a dozen or so feet from them and aimed with its weapon at the council. Sebastian dove and knocked the enemy of its feet, landing on top it's stomache while it harmlessly sprayed several rounds into the wall.

The two of them decloaked, gaining the attention of the others now. They watched on as Sebastian was about to impale the human with his knife, barely missing neck as he partially rolled his body. Sara'Zoe was about to interfere, but Cain told her to keep the shield up while he walked towards the fighting duo with shotgun drawn. Sebastian laid a left hook to the humans jaw, easily knocking a few teeth out and readied a second lunge with his knife, aiming for the throat again. The human grabbed at the basatin's wrists in an attempt to spare himself a gruesome death. His effort was for naught since Sebastian had the advantage of being on top, using his body weight to overcome the struggle. The human screamed knowing that he was defeated, and soon turned to a gurgle as Sebastian pierced the throat with an ear wrenching slit. The basatin rose with splatters of blood on his vest, claiming victory.

"They are using invisibility spells." He grabbed hold of his pistol. "We better keep our eyes opened."

Cain acknowledged, and led the group onward, telling Sebastian to cover the rear just in case they try to sneak again. They were almost to the end of the hallway, when another, more heavily armored, White Hand grunt tumbled around the corner, unleashing a heavy lightning bolt behind his hefty mana shield. Cain used his right hand to deflect the attack, making it strike the window and shattering it to pieces; they all pinned themselves to the wall. Cain leaned out of cover and shot a shell out of his shotgun, the recoil pushing his arm back quite a bit, but the grunt's heavy shield barley budged and absorbed the searing pellets.

'Hey, that gun of yours ain't worth shit against that shield.' Jargo looked at the captain.

'Got a plan?'

'Oooh yeah.' The wolf grinned. 'I'd cover your ears if I were you.'

The captain raised a brow, trying to think of the stunt he was about to pull. He soon found it out to be very blunt as the wolf stepped out of cover with his gun at his side. Cain was about to use a spell to push Jargo back into cover for inadvertently exposing himself like that, but it was unnecessary since a small tube-like device popped up out of his shoulder and took aim at the grunt, firing a missile that zoomed through the air, hitting the target head on with a deafening explosion. Everyone around the wolf squatted as debris shot through the corridor, while he remained there smiling at the beautiful flame.

Jargo turned his head to face the others after the smoke cleared. "Folks, that's how you get things done around here!"

Cain chuckled. "God damn! What else do you have packed in that suit of yours?"

The wolf readied his assault rifle and the mini missile launcher retracted back inside the metal carcass. "Sorry Stryker, that's classified information. You'll get acquainted with it's other...features later. Hopefully." He ended the sentence with a grin.

They rounded the corner and saw the body of the shielded grunt whose body armor was singed from the impact. Cain looked at the wall in front of them. There was no elevator in sight.

"It's not here?" Sara'Zoe shifted her head, left and right, looking for the door.

"Of course it is!" Hanowitz exclaimed. "An elevator that goes to a _hidden_ hangar better be covered up." The general walked over to the wall where a picture was hung and tilted it in a certain pattern, which then cause a small slot to open up in the wall the presented a keypad along with a fingerprint scanner. He punched some numbers and scanned his finger and a large section of the wall opened up, revealing a small elevator room. The group ushered the queen to head in first, followed by the others with Hanowitz the last one to go in. Cain told them that he will contact them after things begin to settle down out here, and the elevator door closed as the general saluted and wished them good luck. The squad regrouped and were about to assess the situation, but they were halted by a message from their holo-gear. It was The Concord.

'Captain!' A male voice shouted. 'Captain, are you there?'

'Who is this?' Cain looked around the room.

'This is the pilot of The Concord. We'll get acquainted later. What the hell happened out there?'

He shrugged. 'That's what I'd like to know.'

There was a short pause before the pilot continued. 'What are your orders cap? We are ready for launch.'

Cain quickly ran to the window, careful not to show himself. He saw that a couple of armored vehicles and a small regiment of soldiers pinning down our own at an intersection.

He retreated back into the room. 'There's a group of enemy troops, armor included, giving our forces some trouble just outside the council hall. Think you can lay some fire down for them?'

'Roger that captain. Sit tight, we're about to join the party!'

All four of them turned to look outside as they heard a low rumbling. They were struck with awe when they saw a decently large vessel slowly rise out of the ground behind some dense trees, like an ancient beast awakening from a long rest. The ship itself must have been at least 500 feet length, but it was hard to tell from the angle they were looking at. The craft hovered over the intersection, just above the roof line of the surrounding building, and opened two ports under its aft wings, showing off its hefty railguns. The White Hand soldiers, looked up, giving the same expression as Cain and the others when they first eyed the vessel. They then tried to scatter, yelling to retreat, but it was too late for them. The guns on the Concord glowed a bright blue and hummed a deathly tune, followed by a loud crack from their firing, shattering the enemy tanks and sending bodies flying in every direction. The council forces all rose from their positions and cheered as the ship hovered higher in the air.

'Good work.' Cain thought into his holo-gear. 'Scout around for any stragglers. And be careful not to harm civilians.'

'Aye Aye!' Shouted the pilot, who then steered the ship to patrol the surrounding area, scouring for leftovers. The squad trekked back to the main entrance of the council hall, where a group of at least thirty mixed soldiers gathered to reform and assess the situation. The surrounding area was a wreck; Damaged vehicles lined the streets and the moans of the injured could be seen with medics tending to their wounds. The surrounding building didn't fare so well either, seeing as how some of the glass on the lower floors was broken along with the cinder blocks which were pelted with bullet holes. Two people stood out amongst the group, a basatin and a human, who were shouting out orders for scouting parties and securing the local area. They were presumed to be of higher ranking than the rest. Cain approached them, with the others close behind, and garnered their attention.

The human shifted his attention after speaking hastily to four other men, telling them to depart. "Captain." The older looking man saluted. "I am Lieutenant Baker, one of the men in charge of the troops here."

Jargo crossed his arms. "How exactly do you know about his rank? That meeting was supposed to be for our ears only."

"That's the only thing we know that came about the meeting. That and the ship. Nothing more."

Cain butted in. "That sounds like a little much information, don't you think?"

"Listen. I only know about the ships existence. The details about it I couldn't even guess on."

Cain, satisfied with his answer, nodded. He wanted to know exactly what happened out here. "So tell me. What went down?"

The Concord made another slow pass over them, its engines making a whirring sound like an oversized Bunsen burner, causing all of them to look up for a moment before realigning their attention towards one another.

"Precisely twenty three minutes ago, we received message from aircraft control than an unmarked and unknown vessel was making a beeline for Ibon City. It was already too close to assemble any type of aircraft for interception. How it was able to remain undetected for so long, we don't know. Three minutes later, the craft was in range of our AAA railguns which scored direct hits, only to turn it into an aerial torpedo which was still able to smack right into the side of the hall. That's when things got uglier. A small cell of White Hand disguised as our own started attacking us. Luckily the erusians were here to point out the fakes and reveal who they truly were. Unfortunately, since they were able to get into our regiment like that, some of them had control of some of our tanks. Those sneaky bastards. Getting more and more clever each day. We were lucky that you were able to assemble The Concord so fast. Our own armor would of tore us to pieces."

"It's our duty to help." He shook the sergeant's hand. "We got the council to safety, except for the king. He got out of the room just in time before the crash. Is he okay?"

"Yeah. A few basatins were able to haul him into an armored car. He should be safe."

Sara'Zoe spoke up. "It seems that the White Hand were here to kill the council. The plane missed us by only several dozen feet and we met enemy resistance in the corridors."

Baker was shocked at the idea of an assassination attempt of this magnitude, but it wasn't too farfetched since that's the reasoning for the White Hand's existence. Human extremists bent on preventing world unification. He was more concerned about how they knew when and where to strike.

"It makes me wonder though. How could they know where the meeting was taking place? This place is locked down harder than any other installation out there."

"There has to be an insider." Cain stated. "There's no other way that something like this could be leaked out."

"Well, then I guess we'd better find out who it is then before this happens again."

They saluted each other again before Cain regrouped with the others, trying to get in contact with Hanowitz. He opened a generic comm line, calling out to the hangar, in which he heard the general's voice after a short delay. Cain told him that the White Hand has been subdued and that patrols were on the lookout for more. Hanowitz thanked him for a job well done and told him and his team to meet them in the hangar right away, giving him access to the elevator in the process.

The ride down the shaft was rather quick and the doors opened up to a large, empty hangar, full of people who were bustling about from the recent attack. Cain searched left and right and found the suspended rooms along the walls that the general told them to meet at. He received a message from The Concord, stating that area was deemed under control and that they were returning to base. After climbing a few sets of stairs, they saw Hanowitz standing by a window and the council sitting in an otherwise empty room with a long table and quite a few remaining seats. The general was looking out of the glass, staring at nothing in particular. He shifted his body when he heard familiar footsteps and smiled.

"One hell of a job you guys did." He shook Cain's hand. "Especially you, soldier. You commanded your squad flawlessly."

"Thank you, sir."

Glandall praised his actions. "Yes, Captain. Without you and your squad we wouldn't have made it out alive. Your efforts will be honored in the future."

Cain shook his hand in rejection. "No need Mr. President. I'm just doing what a soldier does."

A sigh came from the old wolf. "The White Hand are a much bigger threat than I could ever imagine." He looked down at his hands. "They penetrated one of the most secure places on the planet. This must have taken them months to plan. Hiding as one of our own. We never saw it coming."

Zaraya stared at Cain with her luscious amber eyes. "It seems we have to rethink our situation. Don't we Captain?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"The enemy is evolving faster than we realized. We didn't expect them to be this clever. More security measures must be taken; we need to always be one step ahead of them." She slammed her fist on the tabletop. "They deserve to be smashed like little insects. And now that Erusia has made its presence on these lands, they will be turned to ash by our might."

Cain put on a playful smile. "Lets not get too ahead of ourselves here."

The queen noticed his smile, but she retained her serious look. "Stryker, I am serious about this. If Erusia plans on opening its borders, I can not allow scum like them to exist. That is the erusian way; to eliminate the opposition without question." She relaxed back into her seat and had a more soothing, but dominant tone in her voice. "I don't wish to lecture, but during ancient times our continent was filled with many tribes fighting for dominance of the land, including our own. We had our struggles and our victories, and in time we slowly overcame each tribe. Not only did we annex their pitiful countries, we also destroyed them, ridding the earth of their cities in place of our own. During the course of hundreds of years the entire eastern hemisphere became ours for the taking, and that's where we stand today."

Her voice came almost to a whisper and sent shivers down the Captain's spine. "We don't wish to promote violence, Stryker. We aren't monsters. But if we are threatened, we will act...accordingly."

After hearing Zaraya's little story, the rest of the occupants, except Sara'Zoe, grew more intrigued about the erusians. This was the first time the queen has actively spoken about their past, and they certainly wanted to hear more. A loud clang erupted from the hangar, causing them to look out the windows, followed by blinking caution lights as the hangar doors opened, allowing The Concord to land inside.

Hanowitz laid his eyes on the vessel before turning to Cain. "Perhaps it's time for you to meet your crew?"

The captain smiled. "Yeah."

They were about to make their leave when Zaraya spoke up once more. "Don't forget, Stryker. I need to see you at my palace right away once you are done familiarizing yourself with the ship."

"Right away?" He questioned the queen since he figured it would take her at least a few hours to return home, being on the other side of the world and all.

She raised a brow. "Did I stutter, Stryker?"  
"No, your majesty. I'll be there as quickly as I can."

"Good." She held her chin high and had the slightest of smiles.

Cain and the others made their leave, saying goodbye to the rest and climbed down the stairs to see the ship in its full glory. They all took a moment to admire the ship's beauty. It was even more magnificent than what was shown in the hologram. Every detail could be examined, from all four of the nations symbols along the silver fuselage, to the flaps on the dark blue wings, and of course the name of the ship itself was printed towards the bow of the body. They moved on towards the starboard, looking for a way to get in and after searching for a few moments they heard a voice on their holo-gear.

'You have permission to come aboard.' The pilot said sarcastically as a a bridge extended, allowing them to walk on and climb the steps up to the door which opened automatically as they came close. They stepped in and were instantly overwhelmed by the technology that surrounded them. The corridors were lined with white lights on the floor and ceiling with caution signs periodically, signifying a maintenance hatch or a high voltage electrical box. They followed the hallway, leading up to the bow where they saw monitors and seats lining the edges of the walls. The ship was oddly empty. It was until they reached the bridge they saw a group of sixteen standing in a line to greet them. The human standing center was the first person to greet them.

"Captain." The man saluted. "The name's John Celano. I'm the one who navigates this fine piece of work."

One by one each member introduced themselves to the team, stating their role. Seth Brady, a hardy, young looking basatin, was in charge of the weapon systems, along with four subordinates who kept track of the automated targeting systems along with manual control if there ever comes a time to do so. They also have control over stealth and cloak operation. William Nusselt, a much older human with a white beard and a black cap covering his balding head, was in charge of the engineering department. Him and five master engineers monitor every aspect of the ship, including the drive core, engines, weapon maintenance and optimization and made sure that everything was working the way it was intended to. Sophia Verona, a short but adoring vixen, took control over the intelligence division, alongside her two cohorts, who watched incoming and outgoing communications and kept tabs on radar and the IFF system. And then there was Kha'Lil Peruba, an unlikely erusian who was the head chef, dedicated to feeding the crew quality food during peak meal times, and the crew's doctor.

Cain was impressed by the organization of the crew. John offered to give a tour of the rest of the ship while the other crew members went back to their posts. The human started by showing them the bridge, the main operation area of the ship. He pointed to the small row of computers that the group passed a few moments ago.

"Those over there are for Seth and his people. They control the weapons on The Concord. Guaranteed to blow anything out of the sky or on the ground."

They walked deeper into the bridge, and the first thing they saw was a lone chair behind a few monitors.

"And this." John patted the top of the leather swivel seat. "This is your seat, Captain."

Cain felt the smooth headrest before taking a seat in the comfy chair. "Well, what do you guys think?" He turned the seat to face them.

"Looking good Stryker, but I don't think black leather really suites you." Jargo joked while leaning against a metal wall nearby.

Sebastian briefly glimpsed at the wolf and then focused his stare on Cain. "It's the perfect place for you, Captain."

Sara'Zoe nodded. "I agree. That seat isn't worthy for anyone else."

After Cain rose out of his seat, John proceeded to show the other sections of the bridge. They stepped down to the lower section, where the front most part of the bridge was lined with consoles in a u-shape fashion. From left to right, John indicated which sections do what.

"Okay. Over here are our eyes in the sky. The radar." They leaned in to see that the monitor was in fact off and displayed a blank screen. "Any baddies or friendlies we encounter will be displayed here, thanks to our active IFF system. And of course all of this can be viewed in real time at your station, Captain. And here" John patted the top of another leather seat. "is where I plant my fat ass. All navigation is done by me, whether automated or not, and I can fly us in and out of any combat situation." They walked to the final section of the consoles. "This is the comm station. You'll find Miss Verona sitting here most of the time. She monitors all forms of communication and can relay messages directly to you, Cap."

After they were finally done admiring the well designed bridge, John led the others down the same long corridor from which they came. They passed the exit/entrance room from before and continued down until they reached a t-section, making a right, passing a few small storage closets and making a sharp left turn at another t-section, where they were then met with a long hallway lined with metal sliding doors on either side. This area housed the living quarters for the entire crew, and an opening in the wall, halfway down, contained another flight of stairs going up which caught the eye of the captain.

"What's up there?"

"That's your private quarters, Captain."

Looping back around, they made a right at the latter intersection and headed down a set of stairs which opened up to a lower deck. Immediately to the right was another hallway for the engineering crew to perform routine maintenance on The Concord's main guns, and beyond that was the storage room. To the left was a larger corridor, split by a wall that contained another set of steps that descended into the ship's secondary weapons, defensive systems, escape pods and the core. Down the left split was the mess hall with the kitchen budding off from it towards the back. On the other side of the split was the medical bay followed virtual reality room. John explained that you can think of any scenario, any environment, and the room will communicate with your mind, turning it into one giant illusion. It was the perfect place to meditate, or to hone your skills in a pseudo-battle or just to get away from the stresses that they will all eventually face. Further down was the shooting range; a pretty self-explanatory place. At the end of the wide corridor was the electrical room which housed components for the servers and all of the electrical work for the bridge which was directly above them.

The tour was complete and The Concord was prepped for takeoff. Jargo excused himself from the others, his curiosity of the core beckoned him to go down to the lowest levels of the ship. After going down the steps, he had an option of either left or right down another short hallway. To his right was another t-section at the hall's end, with a sign that said 'ZX-Gattling' on the metal door. The intersection also contained rooms for the defensive systems required to maintain cloak and stealth fields and for the missile pods and escape pods for when the ship is lost. The wolf was more interested in the heavy door directly to his left which read 'Core'. To his surprise, the door was unlocked and shot open as soon as he was close enough to it. He smiled at the sight of a huge, glowing mana crystal, suspended mid air in a glass casing. A circular catwalk caressed the crystal's container along with a few consoles to monitor its behavior. Jargo was so infatuated with the piece of technology, he didn't even notice the figure in front of him with his back turned, observing one of the consoles. When the door behind the wold closed, the figure turned around, his white beard jiggling as it lagged behind. He smiled at the sight of the wolf and gestured for him to come over. They both looked up at the crystals beauty and remained in silence for a few minutes before William spoke.

"It's a beaut, ain't she?"

"Yeah. Mana tech at its finest." Jargo looked at the human. "You design this?"

William nodded. "Me, alongside hundreds of others." He met eyes with the wolf. "You know long it took to make this?"

Jargo shrugged.

"Too damn long." He chuckled. "Hour after man hour, dozens of reprints for the schematics. We thought it would be impossible to make a core this powerful for its size. But, we did it. And it was worth every ounce of sweat."

"I bet it was." The wolf looked at the monitor in front of them, observing the data that was processed through it. William took note of his intrigue and explained the meaning behind the abundant amount of dynamic graphs and readings.

"Ah! I see your engineering senses have tingled. This screen here shows all essential data of the core; from temperature readings to efficiency ratings; what percentage of output is going where. Now, we can expand one of these. Lets say, the output power for example." William touched one of the graphs, which then took up the entirety of the screen. "And we can see, in detail, which section of the ship is eating the most juice. Lets see..."

Jargo panned over the list and was able to locate it first.

"It looks like the bridge is taking up the most power. Makes sense since we are getting ready for takeoff."

"Mhm."

An announcement echoed throughout the core room. It was the Captain.

"Alright guys. This is our first takeoff. Hang onto something. Our first stop is Queen Zaraya's palace in Erusia."

A few seconds passed, and the two engineers watched as the mana crystal hummed and glowed twice as bright as before. The graphs on the monitor changed drastically, with the output power switching primarily from the bridge over to the engines and the relative gravity generators.

"Lets watch our masterpiece at work. Shall we?" William smiled at the wolf.

With the captain at the helm and the crew at their stations, they were given permission by command to undock. The massive doors overhead opened up to the outside and John played around with the controls on the holographic screen, causing the underside engines to flare. The Concord slowly lifted off of the concrete ground and peeled out of the hanger bay and continued to rise until it was several thousand feet above the city below. Its rear thrusters took over and the ship accelerated, banking to the left. Cain sat firmly with Sara'Zoe and Sebastian standing behind him, the relative gravity generators capable of preventing them from falling over. The ship stayed on course and gained another couple thousand feet in altitude before leveling off.

"Cruising altitude achieved. MEC engines are primed." John spun his chair to face Cain. "We are ready to go on your command, Cap."

Cain gripped his arm rests and stared at the blueness of the sky in front of him. "Fire the engines." He shouted with pride.

With the push of a button from John's end, a muffled but noticeable roar bellowed throughout the bridge. They watched as the clouds flew by them faster with each passing second; a blue transparent aura could be seen forming a bubble around the ship, followed by a thunderous explosion that caught everyone by surprise. The sun in the sky could be seen moving past the bridge at an alarming rate. John cheered and turned to meet Cain again.

"Whoo! What a rush!" He lifted his arms into the air as if he were on a roller coaster heading down the largest drop.

"I think this marks the beginning of something extraordinary." Sophia looked at the captain and wiped away her dark brown locks from her face. "A round of applause?"

The crew began to clap, but they weren't clapping for the ship. They were clapping for Cain. He couldn't help but smile as they direct their attention towards him. They were proud to have him as their leader and he was proud to have them as his crew. He knew that there will be hardships in the future, but with a vessel such as this along with the people to back it up, they could achieve any goal that the council wishes them to obtain.

The applause subsided and the ship flew at its astounding speed for a few minutes until they reached the outskirts of their destination where the bubble began to subside, signifying that they were decelerating. The ship rocked once more from turbulence and quickly stabilized. Only minutes have gone by and now the were directly over the erusian mainland near their capital Fulvitrum. It was the crew's first time in the empire's territory and they savored the glorious view of the city after it came into view from the descent. A high pitched ping came from the console that Sophia was sitting at and a message appeared on her screen.

"Captain. Queen Zaraya wishes to speak with you. Shall I patch her through?" The vixen hovered her hand over the monitor.

"Absolutely."

With a swipe of her paw, an image of the queen appeared on the bridges windshield, just above John's field of view. Instinctively, Cain rose out of his seat out of respect and gestured the others to do the same. He noticed Sara'Zoe was avoiding direct eye contact with her again and wondered if this was erusian custom or if she was actually intimidated. The queen's full body was in view, outlined in a dull green. She bowed her head and greeted the captain.

"Greetings, Stryker. I see you've made good acquaintance with the crew."

"You majesty." Cain was again lost in her amber eyes.

She looked down at him with a most peculiar stare. "It pleases me that you've arrived as quickly as you said you would. A man who keeps his word. One of the many reasons we chose you."

Cain got to the point and ignored her tangent comment. "What exactly do you need from me?"

"Be patient, Stryker." She cracked a smile. "You'll soon find out why I want you here. In the mean time, there is a landing zone designated just for your ship, behind my palace." She looked down at the pilot with a more serious expression. "John, I trust that you will avoid hitting my homestead?"

"Well, you hired me for a reason ma'am." He locked gazes with her.

Satisfied with his answer, she turned her attention back to Cain. "When you reach the palace, I request you and your squad to meet me in my throne room." She held her hand out in the direction of the erusian. "Sara'Zoe will show you the way."

"Yes, my queen." She continued to avoid eye contact.

"I will see you soon." Zaraya went on. "Don't keep me waiting too long."

Her image faded and another message was sent to Sophia's console, designating the location of the landing pad Zaraya mentioned earlier. The Concord flew high above the city; a sight Cain was already familiar with, but it still was able to captivate him. Sightseeing aside, John navigated the ship towards the mountains in the distance, where the coordinates were displayed on his overview. He flew over the palace with only a couple hundred feet to spare, spiting the queen's remark doubting his flying capabilities, and landed on a large zone made out of a green, crystalline material, with the hissing of air coming from the landing gears as they made contact.

The four of them set foot on erusian soil. Sebastian and Jargo saw the crystal city in the distance and were simply awestruck. Sara'Zoe ushered them forward and led them towards the palace grounds. Inside, Cain recognized the corridor from when he an Hanowitz were picking up Sara'Zoe, but this time they made a turn down an intersection, right before the embassy room. The palace was much emptier than the last visit. There were a few erusians in cloaks lingering about, greeting the group and bowing at the sight of the Magus. They stopped in front of large, double wooden doors guarded by two erusions dressed in dark blue, kilt-like clothing. Sara'Zoe stepped forward announcing her presence.

"We are here to see the queen."

One of them responded. "Magus Sara'Zoe, although it is an honor to meet you, the queen wishes to speak with Cain. Alone."

Her brows scrunched and her face was full of bewilderment. "The queen spoke with us earlier. She wanted to see all of us."

"That's not whats she told us. Cain is who she wishes to see first. The rest of you will be called in at a later time."

Annoyed by her majesty's indecisiveness, Sara'Zoe faced Cain and offered him the best of luck.

"Is there anything else I should worry about?" He asked, unsure if there was any proper etiquette when talking to royalty.

"No. You seem to have a way with words. Show respect and try not to speak out of turn. You'll do fine."

He was reminded of her predicament during the council meeting and when the queen showed herself on the virtual display.

"What about making eye contact? I've noticed that you refuse to look at her."

"It's an...erusian thing. It's considered rude to stare directly in the eyes when int the presence of the queen." She placed a hand on Cain's shoulders. "Like I said. You'll be fine. Now, don't keep my queen waiting."

He nodded and stepped through the doors that the guards held open for him. A long purple and yellow carpet stretched across the room towards Zaraya, who sat cross-legged on her purple clothed, ivory coated, wooden throne. Two glass towers on either side of her supported the shimmering dome above them and a few sets of unlit candle stands were placed before the step that rose up to her chair. The banner for the erusian empire hung behind her and waved slightly from a small draft. The door shut behind him and now they were both alone. She looked amused by the fact that Cain remained planted by the entrance and waved him over, curling her finger into her palm.

"Come closer, Stryker. There's no need to be afraid."

He obeyed and walked to the edge of her throne, mesmerized by her beauty. It was difficult for him to concentrate, especially since he could see her exposed leg and partially revealed buttock. She uncrossed her legs and slowly rose from her seat and approached him. The single rise made her appear to be a lot taller than she really was. She looked down at the human, who quickly shifted his gaze after realizing that the height difference perfectly lined up her breasts to his eye level. After a short, but playful stare-down, Zaraya called Cain out on his choke up.

"You humans are so easily seduced." She smiled and watched Cain's eyes carefully for movement. "Tell me something, Stryker. Are you struck by my beauty?" After no response, she pressed onward and stepped off the rise and paced circles around him. "That little conversation you had with General Hanowitz before you met the embassy. It seems you have forgotten what he said."

Her words reminded Cain of the general's 'warning' and he was completely absentminded of it when he entered the room. He kept his nerves cool, even though he knew for sure that he had insulted the queen. She circled around him once more, making her strides long and slow before she halted in front of the captain.

"Don't fret. I understand your reasoning. It's a part of human genetics and it's something that is beyond your control." She began her slow pace once more. "Us erusians, on the other hand, have evolved to suppress our emotions, especially during battle. It is considered a weakness. Yet, you have shown no duress in combat, so far, and I hope it remains that way." She took a stand by his side and faced the throne. "You took the death of your brother very well during Archer. Most others would have been filled with rage and blinded by anger." Cain lowered his head in a mournful fashion. "I pray for him though. But you remained in control. And control is the means to success and power."

Cain peered over his shoulder to look at her. "Control can also kill you."

"Indeed it can." She met his eyes. "It is a game of balance; a game that I have mastered over the centuries." She held up her fist and gripped it tightly. "Too much control and you weigh the risk of becoming your own villain." She then relaxed her hand. "If your grip is too loose, then all of your effort and work can easily slip from your grasp. And you end up killing yourself, thinking of what you could have done to prevent it. That is how we work, Stryker. I control the masses. The people know to fear me, but they also know I can be a gentle creature, rewarding those who exceed expectations. It is what drove us to become who we are."

"I take it there were other rulers who lost control?" He intrigued into erusian history.

Zaraya nodded. "During the final days of our age of conquest, some royalties couldn't help but to feel the lust of power. It drove them mad, and the people were fed up with the constant barrage of war with the neighboring clans." Her head drooped. "Those were our darkest days, where we were our worst enemies. The people revolted against the monarch which eventually erupted into a civil war. Thousands perished, but it gave light as to what needed to change."

"And that's when you stepped up to the plate?" Cain urged on.

She climbed the rise again and looked down at him. "I appreciate your curiosities, Stryker, but we should save these history lessons for another time. I asked you and your team to come for a reason. Did I not?"

He shook his head in agreement. "Why'd you want me alone if you wanted to see all of us?"

"Because the gift I'm about to give you is so precious, that any erusian would do anything to receive it. You are the first outsider to acquire my blessing." She gently placed her hands on his cheeks and whispered very softly. "Now relax. This may feel a little overwhelming."

A white band of positive energy glowed around her hands, which in turn, spread across Cain's face in the form of tiny cracks. He grunted from his lightheadedness and placed his hands on top hers without thinking. She whispered for him to relax once more and he lowered his hands back down in compliance. From his perspective, the room started to glow along with Zaraya's pristine face. It felt like he was being lifted into heaven while greeted by a goddess. The queen bent her knees to lower herself and leaned in to plant her tender, pink lips on his forehead. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but the rush of energy that flowed through his body was evident, since he stumbled backwards, groaning every step of the way. The queen watched on in amusement as he struggled to stay on his feet, waving his arms about to maintain balance.

Zaraya called the others into the room. The door opened and the three were confused to see Cain wobbling about as if he had a few drinks from the bar. Sara'Zoe ran up to him and held onto his shoulders to prevent him from falling. She saw the white markings on his face and stared at the queen in disbelief.

"My queen! How could you do this? You don't know the consequences of giving an outsider the blessing."

"Don't question my judgment Sara'Zoe." She scoffed. "Stryker is perfectly capable of handling it."

The other two caught up to them and saw the state that Cain was in. Jargo looked at him, concerned and demanded an answer.

"So, what exactly is going on here? And what is this blessing you're talking about."

"This blessing is a privilege." Sara'Zoe explained. "It is given to those who have shown extreme dedication, and selflessness; and those who have sacrificed for the benefit of the empire. Very few erusians have ever been honored to have it, but when they do, they reach a new state of tranquility."

"And each ruler of the hierarchy, possesses a different type of blessing." Zaraya continued. "I, for example, am known as Zaraya the Protector. It is my surname. My blessing will ensure your protection during dire times. This characteristic changes from ruler to ruler. Another example would be of our previous reign, King Moqtaderi the Embodiment. His blessing granted the recipient unfeasible magic capability. But," Her voice echoed. "once a blessing is used, it will be gone forever."

Sebastian crossed his arms. "So let me get this straight. You hand out these special powers that people could do god knows what with them?"

"Like I said." She eyed the basatin with displeasure from his snarky comment. "Only those who can be trusted are given these blessings. Besides, most erusians cherish them and hold on to them for the entirety of their lives."

"Still, it sounds like a sketchy idea." He shrugged.

Zaraya ignored the basatin and ordered the others to line up in front of her. Cain stirred out of his sedated state and Sara'Zoe let go of him, knowing that he would be able to stand on his own. The queen noticed Cain beginning to come to, and congratulated him on his successful journey.

"Well done Stryker. You impress me. Most erusians can barely stand on their feet. But you, a non erusian, stood strong. I have underestimated your will power." She directed her attention to the others. "Lets see how the rest do."

Sara'Zoe nearly choked, knowing that she was about the receive her queen's blessing. She bowed her head, stating that she wasn't worthy, but the queen said otherwise, appreciating her duty as a Magus. The other two didn't seem as joyous as her but still, they were honored that the queen was offering such a rare sanctification.

One by one, Zaraya performed the same ritual she did on Cain, kissing them gently on the forehead. First was Sara'Zoe, who performed in a similar fashion as the captain. The queen removed her headpiece and touched her lips with her skin. She let out a load gasp and stumbled about, barely retaining her composure. The other two instantly dropped to their knees and fell face first near Zaraya's feet. Cain's haze, by now, has fully dissipated and turned to witnessed the ongoing act, two furs unconscious and an erusian who can barely stay on her feet.

"Looks like I missed the party." He smiled at the queen, and in return she gave a little chuckle. "They gonna be okay?"

She nodded. "They will come to shortly. Their vitals are normal. As I said earlier, your ability to withstand such powerful energies marvels me. You've fared much better than your cohorts."

"Guess it comes with time." He shrugged.

"I believe it has to do with more than just experience, Stryker."

He was about the question her last statement, but the grunts from the fallen wolf snapped his attention. Jargo lifted his body, his robotic arms shaking as if they were still made of living tissue, and slowly rose to a standing position. He then grasped his head in pain.

"Ugh! I haven't had this bad of a headache since the grad party in military school."

Sebastian, too, got up and felt weary and asked the queen for permission to smoke a cigar. She utterly denied him and told that he has to save it for when they leave the palace grounds. A short while passed, and the rest of them have returned to their normal states. Sara'Zoe took her queen's hand and kissed it, thanking her for entrusting her with such power. The others thanked her as well and were about to leave the throne room, but were halted when she told them one final parting message.

"Use it only if you must. Do not waste it. Remember this as you venture out into the unknown: I will be watching over you. I will be your guardian, your protector."

She called Sara'Zoe to return to her, and the erusian complied. Zaraya held out her hand where a bright little ball of blue energy rested. She took Sara'Zoes hand and gently cusped the ball into it and enclosed it with her own.

"Take this, Sara'Zoe, and use it on the ship and the rest of her crew."

She shook her head and carefully grasped it in her palms.

"I am proud to call you a Superus Magus, Sara'Zoe. Show Cain your dedication as you have shown me."

"I will, my queen."

"Now go. They are waiting for you."

The erusian met up with the others who were standing by the door. Before the throne room enclosed itself, Zaraya shouted a final statement.

"I wish you the best of luck!"

The team made it back to the The Concord, its bliss still reminiscing in their minds. Sara'Zoe stayed behind the group and told them to head inside without her. The metal door closed in front of her as the last member went through. She opened her palms and stared at the bright ball, captured in its divine serenity. She extended her arm and touched the hull of the ship with the orb; its metal plating shined and cascaded throughout its entirety. The brightness subsided and she went inside the ship to meet with the rest of the crew.

On the bridge, she saw Cain standing in front of his monitor, chatting with William about the core. His voice sounded puzzled.

"The core became oddly unstable a few moments ago. I'm not sure what the hell caused it." The engineer transferred the information over to the captain's console and it displayed a graph with an anomalous spike

Cain squinted his eyes as he looked over the details. He saw that the power stabilized over time. "It looks like it's fine now."

"Yeah, _now_. Who knows if it will jolt again like that. If it were to happen mid-flight, it could be catastrophic."

"I think I know what caused it, William." Sara'Zoe startled the two.

William looked over to her. "Really now?"

She nodded in response. "When we visited the palace, the queen offered us her blessing. It wasn't only limited to us four; she blessed the entire ship."

"So, you're saying that the power jumped threefold because a person of high authority said a few comforting words?" He leaned his chin on his hand.

She placed her hand on her hip. "It was more than just words. It was a ritual utilizing the most divine magic. The core is a mana crystal, isn't it?"

William nodded.

"Well, then that should answer your question."

The engineer shook his head in aggravation, muttering something about messing with his precious crystal, and disconnected his feed. Sebastian, standing nearby, inquired the captain about their next destination, while holding a freshly lit cigar between his fingers.

"The Crisp Sea is next, Cain?"

"That's right." He the directed his orders to the pilot. "John, get us out of here. Set coordinates to the the outskirts of Ania territory. Engage stealth and cloaking systems. You can jump once we reach altitude."

"Aye aye, sir!"

The Concord took off quickly and climbed to an appropriate height. It's engines roared and the bubble caressed the edges of the hull as they soared across the sky at lightning speed. The bubble dissipated and they found themselves over the chilling seas with coast of the mainland behind them in the horizon. Sophia and her division kept an eye out for any readings on the scanners.

"Scanners are clean so far, Captain." The vixen eyed the screen carefully.

"We'll circle around the area and wait to see if anything shows up." Cain said.

John set the ship to autopilot and it went on patrol around the seascape. The next few minutes were uneventful. Nothing was showing up on radar. The only visual they had was of the deep blue ocean. Cain thought that maybe the message the king received was a farce, only to throw them off. He couldn't be more wrong. Sophia notified the captain that something big was approaching them on the scanners, and fast. Seth and his crew were readied on the guns and Sara'Zoe looked down at the captain with obvious concern.

From starboard side, a massive ship, at least five times the size of The Concord, jumped in from MEC drive. They all looked over to see a rusty, brown colored, cylindrical shaped monstrosity of a ship. It was at as large a standard sized command ship of the Anian airforce. A strange metal ring hovered above the mid-section and from initial observation, it seemed to house the engines which rotated about axially. John turned his head and eyed Cain.

"Uh, Cap? What do we do?"

"Keep her steady, John. It won't be able to detect us with the cloak and stealth field active."

A tone of distress came from Sophia. "I wouldn't be so sure Stryker. The vessel is starting to lock on to us."

"That's impossible!" Seth yelled. "These systems are state of the art! Nothing should be able to track us!"

"In that case, take us out of here, John." Can commanded. "I don't care where you take us. Just activate the jump drive."

"Roger that." John slid his fingers on the monitor and pushed the button to activate the MEC engines. A large rattle shook the ship, nearly knocking over those who were standing, and this time, nothing happened. The ship remained at its cruising speed.

"Anytime now." Cain nervously tapped the rests of the chair with his fingers.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" John repeatedly mashed the button. "The ship's giving me no response."

"Damnit." Cain whispered to himself. He immediately got in contact with William on the deck below, demanding answers. "Will. The MEC engines aren't responding. What's going on?"

"I don't know!" William nervously said over the intercom. "I'm getting unusual readings on the console here. The core is firing; it is working, but there is some force imposing us from moving forward."

_It has to be the enemy ship_. He thought to himself. He then stood up, catching Sara'Zoe off guard, and shouted over to Seth. "Get all weapons ready. Bring the shields up to full strength." He turned back around and faced the bow. "This is it. There's no way we can run from this. It's time to show them our teeth."

"Sir!" Sophia shrieked. "The enemy ship is engaging!"

Cain and the others snapped their heads to starboard to see the two antennas protruding out of the front of the enemy vessel glow a deathly read. They both sparked to form a red ball of high energetic frequency between them and it took aim right at The Concord.

"Oh shit. That can't be good." Jargo commented.

"John! Evasive maneuvers, now!" He shouted at the pilot.

He banked the ship a hard right in an attempt to get out of the weapons path. The red ball was unleashed, emitting a thunderous roar, and it released a constant beam of energy that was unavoidable, hitting The Concord on its topside. The shields of the frigate stood no chance and instantly dropped, leaving the hull exposed to be eaten away by the ray of light. The ship jarred violently as the beam cut through the ship like butter, causing the alarms to blare and activating the automated messaging service.

"Warning. Hull breach on decks one, two and three. Initializing fire and pressurization systems."

The captain climbed back into he seat after falling over from the impact. He looked to see how everyone else was faring. His squad remained on their feet, but their faces expressed anxiety, expecting the worse to come. He calmed them, stating that they were going to get out of this alive, but the captain knew there was only one way to end this. And that was by outsmarting the enemy. Cain knew those antennas were the source of the beams energy, and that's where they were going to strike first.

"Take us along broadside at full speed. Charge them head on before they ready another attack. I want the gattling gun aimed at those antennas and fire once you get a good shot."

John banked the ship until the two vessels were face to face. The enemy ship began to charge up again, firing its beam. The Concord rolled to the left to dodge the laser and was successfully out of the weapons tracking range. He pushed the ship as fast as it could go, leaving a wake of black smoke behind them. The guns popped out of the ships underside as Seth and his team readied them with intents to kill. As soon as The Concord was almost broadside with the other ship, the gattling gun revved its two barrels and roared a volley of EMP rounds into the antenna. The constant blue stream of bullets made quick of the layers of shielding around the metal structure, which gave clearance the railguns needed to finish the job. The two turrets light up briefly before unloading their near light-speed armament, tearing through the antenna and ripping it off of the main structure.

It was too early to celebrate. The backup cannons spread along the enemy vessel's hull opened fire, missing The Concord with some, while others making direct hits. Luckily, their shields were back up and they easily absorbed the yellow hot gauss rounds. The frigate flew between the enemy vessel's hull and the strange metal ring that floated around it. Cain saw the rotating engines on the ring and ordered Seth to target those next. The Concord dodged round after round that the enemy threw at them, using its nimbleness to its advantage, and they circled back around after passing the vessel, lining up the shot for the gun crew. Once again, the gattling gun opened fire to destabilize the enemy shielding momentarily, while the railguns blasted the now underside engine to pieces. The engine, at first, was coated in flames and a huge explosion followed seconds later, causing the ring to break at the bottom. Whatever was holding that ring place seemed to stop, since whatever was left of it crashed onto its topside, crushing a few turrets in the process. Molten metal rained down to the ocean below, and the enemy ship was coated in smoke and bits of flame. Its auxiliary engines in the aft fired brightly, nearly blinding John while they tailed the ship. The vessel made a slow but steady u-turn in the direction it came from, making its intent unknown. The massive hulk now faced The Concord and the captain prepared for another showdown. Instead of engaging, to his surprise the vessel activated its jump drive, vanishing beyond the horizon.

The captain let out a sigh and slouched back into his seat with his heart still racing ten times as fast as it should. The rest of the crew were in the same state as he, shocked at the events that just transpired, their lives nearly coming to an end. Now wasn't the time linger about. They had to get out of here and fast before the possibility of more ships showing up.

"John. Get us back to Anian territory. We need to dock up for repairs."

"Y-yes sir." His voice was meek and was noticed by the captain. Cain got up from his seat and walked behind the pilots chair and nudged him on the shoulder and smiled at him.

"That was some good flying there. We wouldn't have made it out of here if it weren't for you."

"Thanks sir." John's tone was more uplifted after hearing the captain's thoughtful words. He was touched by Cain's ability to remain calm, especially during near this near death experience. He knew for sure that he was the once destined to lead this ship.

Cain turned around to face the others. "Is everyone okay?"

He received nods all around.

"Excellent teamwork folks. I'm proud of all of you. Each contribution of your parts was vital to our survival. We can all relax now. Ibon is going to be our next stop for a while."

The crew smiled from his recognition and continued to monitor the status of the ship and whatever else that could be lurking around the corner. Cain got in contact with William to survey the damage of the ship.

"William, how bad is it looking down there?"

"Could be a lot worse." He grunted.

"You okay?" Cain asked in concern from the sound of the engineer struggling.

"I'm fine. Just moving around some of the debris that's laying around. That beam pierced right through some of the quarters and blasted the hell out of the VR room. Luckily the core has its own personal shielding, since it nearly hit that too! One of our guys is down at the moment. Poor guy smacked his head into the wall after the ship shook took a beating. He'll be fine though. Kha'Lil is patching him up as we speak."

"Good to hear. Let me know if anything comes up."

"You got it Captain."

Cain severed the communication and he saw that the ship was well underway in jump drive, heading towards human grounds. Jargo approached him and gave him a friendly pat on the arm.

"Well, well. If it isn't the hotshot captain."

Cain only brushed a smile.

"That was a close one, Cain. Have any idea who the hell that was?"

He shrugged. "Not a clue. I'll give Hanowitz the details once we reach port. Maybe he can give us some clarity."

"I hope so." The wolf looked at the other two, who were lurking about the bridge. "With something like this happening, we all feel like sitting ducks."

The Concord found itself near the borders of Anian and UKE territory outside of Ibon. Sparks flew and smoke puffed from the gaping hole in its hull as it chugged towards small metropolis, with the council hall still smoldering from the previous attack. They received permission from the hangar bay to dock and they were well on their way. They knew they were going to have plenty of time to rest and to think about this new enemy. An enemy unknown.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The Concord rested in the hangar bay, its body crawling with technicians repairing the grave wounds that it suffered. Its crew abandoned her for the meantime and the ship was left alone in its saddened state. Cain leaned against a windowsill, with coffee in hand, looking down as the sparks flew and the mages mended the armor plating. The near catastrophic event lingered in his mind and every detail reenacted itself. He rubbed the back of his neck as he pondered in an attempt to shake the imprinted thoughts, but to no avail. He was lucky that no one was killed. It would have been a burden to lose a member of his crew so early in the game.

Many minutes have gone by, but to him it almost felt like hours, being in solitude. The break room where he was earlier with the council was filled with empty chairs. It was awfully quiet. The captain was busy drowning in thought and didn't hear the silent footsteps creeping up behind him. He saw an entity in his peripherals and it was the warming sight of Sara'Zoe who perched self against the sill in a similar fashion. Both were speechless for some time until the erusian decided to speak up.

"You know. I've never been scared in my life until now. When I was born a Magus, I was taught to reject all forms of emotion, more so than others. In all of my encounters before I was chosen to join you, I was fearless. Undaunted. And for the first time, I felt helpless inside that metal tomb of a ship...so helpless." Her green eyes looked upon his still focused gaze on the ship. "Then I saw you take the helm and commanded us to victory. I was inspired by your words and you helped me regain my courage."

"How did you grow stronger if you haven't known fear for so long?" He remained fixated on the ship.

"Excuse me?" She raised a brow.

Cain turned and met her eye to eye. "You said you were fearless before you met me. I don't believe in that. When I was in training, I was told to learn to fear the enemy because without fear there is no way to gain courage." He sighed and ducked his head. "I guess it's kind of like the whole coexistence of light and dark, good and evil. You can't have one without the other."

"Then we were trained off of different ideals." She placed her hand on his armor plated arm. "Stryker, experiencing this opened up a new valley of wisdom for me. I still have much to learn and, I'm honored to do it along side you."

He said nothing and his head still faced the metal lining of the sill. She wondered if she said something that struck a wrong chord or maybe he wanted to be alone. She felt an odd energy coming from him and it was difficult for her to pinpoint what it was. But nonetheless, it was negative and she couldn't help but ask what was bothering him.

"Am I...making you feel uncomfortable?"

Cain broke his mindless gaze and looked at her, putting on a fake smile. "No, you're not. I could use the company."

"Tell me what's bothering you then." She urged him.

He hesitated a moment and stood upright with Sara'Zoe's hand still clinging onto him unnoticed.

"I was just thinking about what happened to my brother a while back. Zaraya kind of brought up old wounds that I wanted to forget when I spoke to her in the palace."

"What happened?"

"I'm sure you've read up on my dossier before we met, right?" She nodded. "Then you remember when it mentioned Operation Archer."

"Yes, the catalyst facility."

"Well," he continued. "I was designated lead for the spec ops team sent in to shut it down. My brother was part of that team." He looked down at her hand for a second and then stared her in the eyes once more. His flow of words nearly halted and he found it difficult to go on. "I'd...rather not go into details, but lets just say due to my ignorance, he lost his life. Because of me."

Sara'Zoe's voice cracked at hearing his heartbreaking story, as subtle as it was. It was short enough to strike a chime in her heart and she couldn't help but comfort him.

"Cain, I'm so sorry." She wrapped her arms around him.

"It's...alright." His tone was empty and all traces of his former determination vanished. A long, anguished sigh followed. "Something I have to live with."

The embrace lasted for an eternity and secretly, neither of them wanted to let go. Her warmth was soothing and the contact of her silky woven cloth felt like soft, pillowy clouds, making him partially forget about his morbid mindset. He was ever grateful that somebody, outside immediate family, came to an understanding of his feelings, and that his brother's death didn't deserve to be simply shoved aside to the background, just like they did in the military. Fellow soldiers told him that death could come at any moment, and that signing up meant signing a contract with the reaper itself. Although, they seemed to care, to him they didn't care enough. It was his brother; a life long friend that he can never bring back. No other being on the planet can come as close as he had with him. No more jokes. No more playful bickering. It was all taken away at the snap of a finger and by a simple misjudgment on his part. He was a great partner and carried so much potential for the future, and he would do anything to change what happened, even if it meant putting his own life on the line. In his eyes, it would have been worth it. After all, he was the older sibling and it was his natural duty to protect him, and he couldn't even do that and felt ashamed because of it.

Cain was lucky that Sara'Zoe was just as tall as he, since her neck was just high enough to allow him to rest the side of his head into. She didn't flinch and that gave him a good sign that he wasn't being too touchy. His mind wandered peacefully, and whatever the erusian was doing to calm him, he didn't want it to stop. The everlasting euphoria made his hands unknowingly wander along her sides and he felt a slight jolt from her as he accidentally slid them over her smooth, exposed waist. The captain came back to reality and saw where they were placed and retreated them to her back side, apologizing in the process.

"It's fine." She was surprisingly calm about his unexpected endeavor. For sure he thought he insulted her, knowing that she was a Magus that demanded respect. "As you may have noticed by now, us erusians sometimes communicate through touch, such as the queen's blessing for example. That's also why I felt your depression and questioned you. Embracing is a common gesture, so don't fret." She leaned back and shifted her hands towards his neck. Her expression changed to that of curiosity and the scrunching of the eyebrows made that evident. It seemed like she was at a loss of words, since her lips tried to pronounce them, but only wisps of wind were able to come out. "You have a very tender touch. Which is interesting because your way of fighting, from what I've seen so far, is completely antagonistic; so brutal and headstrong. I never expected you to be so tame."

His face became a little warmer and he prayed to the gods that he wasn't blushing. It was hard for him to tell if she was being a flirt or if it was just an erusian custom that he was unaware of. To him, the latter made more sense because of the way she described their ways of communication, which differed quite so from the western part of the world. This touchiness would be rendered as near sexual harassment, especially since Cain still doesn't know much about her or her people's ways. It was odd, but he sure as hell wasn't complaining.

"I guess you can say I'm tamed. I've learned not to let anger make my decisions for me."

The erusian pitched her head slightly and her eyes glimmered from the ceiling lights, showing a sign of contentedness. "I'm glad you were able to learn that on your own. I've witnessed some who weren't as lucky, and that wisdom came too late for them; falling from their unchecked animosity."

She slid her hands from his neck, down to the top of his chest before resting them at her sides. It was a subtle brush that sent subtle tingles down his spine and almost made him shutter. She stood there innocently, and looked as if she wanted to stay on the same path they were treading, but instead she pardoned her leave.

"Listen, Cain, I can't possibly understand how you truly feel right now. I've never lost someone so close to me and I think it's best for me to leave for now. Is that understandable?"

As much as Cain didn't want her to go, a certain part of him told him that maybe it was for the best, and a short period of solitude would make for a quick recovery. His mind no longer hovered over his deceased brother, and perhaps it was time for him to check up on the others to see how they were doing. This period of laziness was going to last until The Concord was back in flying condition, which will take who knows how long and talking to the crew will, hopefully, chew up a lot of time. Sara'Zoe paced to the door after the captain nodded without saying a word and watched her from behind. She turned around as soon as she reached the metal enclosure, to give him a final comforting sentence.

"If you need to talk about anything, whether if it's about your brother or, just, anything, don't be afraid to reach out to me. Please?"

His face filled with joy after hearing her selfless words."I promise. I won't let anything bottle up."

Satisfied with his answer, she let the captain be and her footsteps faded quickly in the hallway outside and subsided when the door closed itself. Now alone again, he went back to his spot on the windowsill and watched the crew work on the ship. A familiar red suit knelt by the large gaping hole on top of the fuselage holding a welding torch. Cain's face lit up when he saw Jargo and William working together to patch up the downed vessel. It was a reminder of how much the world has changed since the old times, when keidrans and humans were at their throats. Luckily, after the Templar regime was halted, both sides made a sort of pseudo-peace between each other and although they weren't seeing eye to eye still, the non-aggression pact prevented them from killing one another outright. A lot of work had to be done to patch up those old wounds, primarily time, but somehow the ancestors were able to do it, and the world he saw today was crafted out of that glimmer of hope, despite how small and insignificant that sheen was.

Cain decided that he was indolent enough and walked with a faster pace than normal out to the hallway and down the stairs onto the hangar floor. It was as noisy as it can get. From people shouting at each other to machines whirring and the hums of magical spells, the place was bustling with activity. The frigate in front of him floated a few feet above the ground so that the workers can assess the under side and sparks dripped down the side from the topside like a semi-active volcano, which reminded him that maybe he should find some protective wear for his head. He threw away that thought and aimed his head towards the roof of the ship, looking for any signs of the wolf. He saw a pair of metal legs dangling off of the edge and tried shouting to get his attention, but the intensity of the surrounding sound easily knocked his words out of the air.

He then thought of a devious plan and used his magic to tug downward on the wolf's leg using telekinesis. The leg budged and then instantly retracted from the ledge in a panic and then soon after, Jargo's head poked over to see what almost caused him to fall down only to see a mischievous grin on the human's face. The wolf held out his index finger, telling him to wait a second, and his head disappeared out of view of the captain. His grin transformed into an awed expression as he saw the wolf leap over the edge and fall at least the seventy or so feet, and landed perfectly with a powerful clang as he struck the ground. The wolf was amused at his amazed stare.

"What's the matter Cain? Never seen keidran anatomy at work?"

He knocked his fist against the wolf's plated chest. "I don't think a keidran without your kind of gear could do that without breaking at least a few bones."

"Oh, way to spoil the joke." He playfully stated. "So, what can I do for you Cain?"

"Just checking up on everyone." He briefly studied the ship before focusing on the wolf again. "How's the ship holding out?"

Jargo folded his arms. "It's alright, I guess. The damage looks a lot worse than it really is. Thankfully, that beam missed most of the ship's vitals, so we only have to replace electrical, piping, mostly cosmetic stuff."

"That's good to hear. How long do you think until she's able to fly?"

The wolf shrugged. "A few days, maybe. A week at most."

"Well, that'll give us some time to figure out what the hell is going on then."

"I sure hope so. I'd like to, at least, know what we're up against." He patted the underbelly of the ship with a dense clank and his face exerted a type of anxiety.

Cain too, eyed the vessel and basked in its glory. He was still amazed that such a ship, so far beyond its time, could be created with the effort of all four nations. He wondered if a project such as this could be created, then imagine the potential accomplishments that are awaiting in the future if they conglomerated from now on. The captain saw the look that Jargo gave the vessel. It was a proud gesture that any engineer can give to a such a technological marvel. He knew that the wolf will enjoy his stay on it, but he wanted to ask him anyhow to see what feelings are masked behind that cold steel of his.

"So, Jargo. What do you think of it?"

The wolf was still fixated with a loving gaze and gave Cain the answer he was looking for. "I never dreamed of working on something like this. Even though technology today is remarkable, this ship right here proves that there is so much more to discover out there and I can't wait until she gets back up into the air. Which is why I should probably get back to work. This baby isn't going to fix itself." He said with a devoted tone.

"Alright, alright." Cain chuckled at the wolf's affection for the inanimate object. "Before I go, have you seen Sebastian? I need to talk to him about something."

"Last I saw him, he was outside by the steps having a smoke. I swear I've only known the guy for a day and he puffs more than a pre-modern factory. It's gonna catch up to him one day."

Cain raised his hand in a departing manner. "Thanks, again. I'll be back later to see how things are going."

"You got it Cain. Nice talking to you."

After their departure, Cain turned back to watch Jargo grab the attention of an erusian who was conveniently close by. He muttered something to him, but it was inaudible, and point towards the ceiling. The erusian nodded and she took a few steps back with hands that glowed a bright blue and lifted both arms in the air, which caused the wolf to levitate upward and land on the metal fuselage above. The captain smirked at the cooperation at work and left the hangar ground through the elevator he used back when the council hall was under attack.

The metal elevator doors opened and saw that the hallways were still littered with rubble, although the smell of ejected casings and burnt vehicles were long gone. He wrapped the corner and peered out the windows as he walked by and saw that a lot of the mess has already been cleared up; all of the damaged vehicles were gone and repairs were already underway to the surrounding offices and the avenues that will soon guide the traffic back to their normal duties. A more notable military presence was duly noted outside the main entrance. An abundant amount of armored vehicles parked themselves on the street below with a few regiments patrolling along side them. He passed by where the heavy doors used to be, where several structural engineers assessed the damage the plane did to the building. Whatever their judgment may be, Cain knew for sure that the place would most likely need to be taken down and rebuilt from the foundation up, but he was surprised that the structure was still able to stand on its legs despite the brutal impact that it suffered.

Near the top of the stairs, a basatin leaned against one of the pillars outside, with a cigar in hand. He stared out to the street below, observing the movements of the troops around him. A long rifle lay unprotected against the wall, near his feet as if it never left the small skirmish from before. Cain walked next to him and neither spoke a word. They both simultaneously fixated themselves on whatever was going on below them. After a final puff of his smoke, Sebastian spoke up in an unsurprised tone of voice, which made that captain think he was expecting him.

"Cain."

"Sebastian. This seems like an odd place for you to hang out."

The basatin placed the stubby cigar on the flat part of the railing to let itself die out. He sounded more sincere this time. "Not really. I am a soldier at heart. It's how we were all brought up. The sound of stomping boots and squealing tank treads is music to my ears and it reminds me a lot of my earlier years. I suppose you can say that I'm naturally attracted to the sounds of combat."

"So you don't think you could ever lay low?"

"Nah. I don't like being in places that are too passive. It's not really my thing."

"Oh yea? But you're a sniper. You're pretty much out of danger for the most part, hiding in the background and all."

Sebastian recalled his former career in the hornet platoon, a branch off of the army's infantry division. Only those who showed absolute prime in every aspect of fighting and physical finesse were considered to apply for that school. And that's where the real training began, where men where turned into killing machines capable of zero remorse and hesitation. The robotic nature of the hornet platoon sent shivers down his spine as he recalled those times, and it was one of the reasons he decided to retire from that path. He was sick of being a mindless puppet.

"Don't be so naive, Cain. I'm always in the line of fire. If I can see the enemy then they can see me. It's the golden rule of combat, you know that. When I take the shot, I have to move elsewhere. Very far away, or else I'll be converged on and fucked in places I didn't know I had." He shifted his head slowly towards the human. "But you're not here for small talk, are you?"

"Kinda. I'm still not sure who, how or why we were attacked. I want to hear your opinion about the whole thing."

Sebastian gathered his thoughts and he held a sort of conclusive glare in his eyes that possibly contained an answer to the mystery. "I don't know what sovereignty that ship was flying for, and at first instinct I want to say the White Hand, but I highly doubt they could build something like that without being noticed."

Cain thought otherwise after recollecting the fight that occurred right in front of them. "You think so? You've seen what they are capable of now. They were able to hide amongst our own ranks and they were just inches from taking out the entire line of the council. Them building a ship like that doesn't seem too bizarre anymore."

He rubbed his chin. "They can't do it on their own though. The amount of resource needed to construct something that size would drain a shit ton of money, even by Anian or UKE standards. There has to be an outside source that's funding them."

Cain raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Something tells me that you know something I don't."

"I don't know for sure, but I have a hunch that the king is involved."

"What makes you say that?

He huffed. "Just think about it. The basatin government is corrupt enough already and that also includes the king. He is no exception, even though he may seem like a decent man on the outside, he's just as bad as everyone else. Don't you think that call he received before the plane crash was a little too convenient? Well I certainly believe so."

"That still doesn't explain why he would have a connection with the White Hand. Giving them money, in my eyes at least, is overall a bad idea. They have no regards for non-humans, so I don't see a point at all. What could he possibly get in return?"

"Hell if I know." Sebastian shrugged. "They could be offering up weapons or support. It's hard to say for sure. This could be a lot deeper than we realize if this is true."

"That's a _big_ if." Cain leaned against the side of the wall and contemplated the variables and probability of the king's endorsement in the whole coup. "It's best if we talk to Hanowitz about it. He should be here any minute anyhow and he's gonna want the details about what went down."

On cue, the general contacted him via cell phone and told him that he just touched down at the nearby airport and was on his way to meet him. He gave him the name of a nearby building only a few hundred feet away and there, they should wait outside until he arrives. Cain dragged along the basatin and within a short while they were at the base of a five story concrete, glass building that appeared more sturdy than its neighbors. The both of them waited near the entrance, underneath a small overhang that protected them from the beating sun for about ten minutes, until a black, standard looking SUV pulled up to the shoulder to let out a formally dressed gentleman. He walked towards them with his hands behind his back with an officer's cap shadow masking the wrinkles under his eyes. An arm extended towards the captain as soon as he was within reach and he firmly gripped it, giving it a few shakes before receding and a pat on the shoulder was saved for the basatin.

"Hanowitz." Cain greeted the old man with a faint smile and a slight cheerful tune.

"Gentlemen, I've heard you've had one hell of a ride." He held onto his typical sarcasm.

"You have no idea."

"I'm glad that everyone's okay." He motioned the two towards the building. "Follow me. I'll find us someplace that's more quieter so we can discuss this in more detail."

The office complex was very cool in comparison to the outside, thanks the the central air conditioning. It was oddly empty, and the only person who was present was a tigress behind the desk near the entrance, where Hanowitz flashed her his ID and she waved them through after a brief look over. The two human's shoes sharply echoed throughout the lobby as they stepped on the black tiled floor, followed by a faint thump from the trailing basatin's wrapped feet. The place looked well maintained and the few bits and pieces of chrome plated columns and walls coincided well with the flooring. The general led them up a flight of stairs after passing down a large corridor that sprouted from the lobby, and eventually settled upon a locked door with the man's name and rank slabbed onto it. The room was small, but Cain knew that he wasn't the type of guy who cared for aesthetics. As long as he was provided with the proper tools, the man would always be satisfied.

Hanowitz sat behind the dark oak desk and a few chairs were conveniently placed for them to sit down on across from him. It was a cozy little office, but most of the room remained bare from any sort of decorations. Its walls were empty of any paintings that you would typically see elsewhere, and even his desk was void of family pictures or memorabilia or any sort of awards he was given from the commander in chief.

"Don't mind the décor." He exhaled greatly in relaxation and leaned back into his leather chair. "I know it's kind of lacking, but I just recently moved in and I'm too damn lazy to give a crap about spicing it up." He slouched forward and quieted his voice a bit. "You should see the other ones next door. The rooms are full of garbage and waste of space cosmetics. Paintings, plaques and all of that nonsensical stuff to show off at others at how much better you are than them. It's too much of an eyesore."

Cain chuckled from his venting speech and looked around the room a second time. This scene seemed all too familiar to him. "You know. This reminds me when we first met, when I was just accepted into the R.E.D. program. I thought you were gonna kick my ass for a while there."

Hanowitz smiled and recalled the tense past he had with the young captain. "I hope you didn't take it personal Cain. I always hate everybody I first meet. That is until I get to know them more, and in your case I liked you because of your style. I don't always get along with everybody, even some of the other R.E.D. members tick me off every once and a while. But enough about the past." He looked off to the side for a second to sidestep off of memory lane. "Let's talk about the ambush."

Sebastian sat quietly while the captain explained the event. "Right. When we arrived over the Crisp Sea, just outside of Anian territory, our scanners didn't detect anything out of the ordinary within a good hundred mile radius, and we confirmed that with visuals. There was nothing. We circled the ship around for a little while, maybe around ten minutes or so, and Sophia alerted us of a large object approaching us at phenomenal speed. What we saw was nearly heart-stopping. It was a ship unlike anything we've seen before." He reached into his pocket and whipped out a pda containing images of the ship from the front and side views and handed it over to Hanowitz. The look on the old man's face was nothing short of flabbergasted and the rapid shifting of his eyes as he panned through each individual image exposed a new type of fear that the man never new existed. "Yea. That was pretty much my face when I saw it too."

"This thing." The general's voice was more high pitched and airy. "It rivals the size of our own command ships."  
"And it was armed to the teeth. It was able to detect our ship even though we had cloak and stealth fully active. It fired a laser type weapon at us and it beat right through the shields and armor as if they weren't even there. John was able to move the ship out of the way from the second attack, and Seth blasted away at some of its weapon systems." Cain pointed to the floating ring at the vessel's midsection on the pda. "See that? That ring housed the engines and that's where we struck to fend them off of us. Their ship was damaged, to what extent, I don't know, but ours didn't fair that well either."

Hanowitz rubbed his beard and looked at the two of them before switching back over to the pda. "And you were able to survive that. Looks like we chose the right crew after all." He flipped back and forth between all of the images, looking for a hint as to who could construct a ship so large and technologically sound. Luckily, the images that were produced were of very high resolution and he was able to zoom in to the point where he could make out the lines that separated each section of the hull. A thorough examination found something that may or may not give them answers, bu it certainly was a start. On one of the angled views, facing the ships prow, a small insignia could be seen in the shadows of the ring. It was unfamiliar to them. A partial portrait of a black arm with an closed fist, enclosed in a black circle. Sebastian studied it for a few moments and a made a very cloudy connection with an all too known, infamous terror cell.

"This might be a little credulous on my part, but doesn't that symbol remind you of the White Hand's?"

The two humans eyed the marking carefully and spent a minute comparing the two in their minds, correlating the white colored hand with the other opposite colored fist and finding a possible link to them both. Still, it was a very rough hypothesis and their assumptions couldn't be taken to heart just yet since there was no physical evidence. Cain and Hanowitz shared their opinions with the basatin, stating that there are similarities, but it wasn't enough to justify any sort of analogy. At this point in time, Sebastian thought now would be the best moment to present his suspicion about the king, and hoped that the general would be able to express his opinion about it. He spoke with the utmost of resolve and a small sense of hatred sneaked behind his accusative words.

"Sir, there is something I wish to say and it may sound a little controversial, but I believe it will open up this case greatly."

Hanowitz opened his hand towards the basatin and tilted his head as a suggestion to go onward.

"Being in my country for so long, I've witnessed much corruption spread around me while in the special forces, namely the hierarchy. I know that you, sir, have some knowledge about how the basatin government works, but I know for a fact that you, and most others, are completely oblivious to the true animosity that is exhibited deep inside this crudely oiled machine. The amount of dirty deeds committed behind the backs of the populous are staggering." He pounded his fingers together, counting the amount of crimes the military committee has pledged to. "Misuse of taxes; inflation of crime from government negligence; rigged elections; disappearances of those who spoke out against them. And I could go on. This is why I believe the king is involved in all of this somehow."

The general fluttered his eyes in rapid succession and jolted his head back slightly, after hearing his accusation of the king. Hanowitz showed his more debatable side. It was reserved, unlike his former brash and near uncivil personality.

"Making a claim like that will require more...evidence than just from what you've seen or heard. Corruption is everywhere, Sebastian, in any political party and it's almost impossible to prevent any harm being done without an initial act from that particular person. As a matter of fact, I've known the king for quite some time now, albeit not on a very personal level, but to me he is a very honest man and a gentle giant. I don't think he would be capable of mingling with a violent organization such as them."

Sebastian placed his hands with ease on the desk, holding a coin in one of them. "That's because you think you know him, Hanowitz. Most political figureheads have a double life, such as how a coin has two sides." He twiddled it between his fingers. "One tells us what they want us to believe; a trustworthy, noble, friendly man who says he will lead our nation back to the glorious golden ages of the past. The face of the coin only shows us the part of the whole story, while the rest of it is concocted in the shadows." He flipped the coin and it landed on its back side near the generals hands. "And the other tells us the truth that's hiding behind the face. A truth that cannot be revealed to the public, or else the following consequences can be so detrimental, that it could mean the start of another civil war." The basatin paused for a moment and took hold of the coin once again and studied it as it played between his fingers before continuing. "That man cannot be trusted. This feeling I have is absolute and I know that someway and somehow, he was involved indirectly in that ambush. That convenient 'phone call' he received just minutes before that plane crash was the deal breaker for me."

Cain backed up his side of the story. "I'm beginning to suspect him as well, Hanowitz. I've thought about it while we were on our way here, and it sort of adds up. You, along with the council, and those who were involved in the construction of The Concord, are the only ones who know about that ship's internals. That vessel we came in contact with was able to see through our 'impenetrable' stealth systems, and the only way that could happen is one of two things: They are that advanced technologically, or The Concords plans were leaked and used as an advantage. Now, we know for a fact that the White Hand, or any other cell, has a very small financial backing, so there is no way they could have built and developed a ship like that without any outside help."

The general stroked his beard and stirred in thought from the words of the two soldiers. He was unsure of who to believe, but the balanced tipped in their favor since he knew Cain had excellent insight and Sebastian has lived in the basatin society for his entire life, let alone was part of the most deadly warriors the isles produced and as such, he had access to vital information. All of this was an assumption on his part, but he knew to stick to his guns and sided with the man he worked along side with for many years.

"If that's what you think," He continued to rub the side of his face in bewilderment. "then I'll talk to the others when I get out of here. If you happen to be correct in what you say, then this may turn out to be the biggest backstabbing scandals uncovered to date." He rose from his chair and gestured with his arm towards the door. His face still showed a subtle case of fear and it was unlike anything the young captain has seen throughout the time they have known each other. "Gentleman. I need some time to think about this. In the meantime, enjoy what time you have to relax. I'm sure once The Concord is ready again, a new task will be assigned to you."

Cain and Sebastian got up and left the office without saying goodbye to the old man. The captain took one final peek before leaving the office entrance's line of sight, and saw Hanowitz leaning on his desk with both arms holding up his body, as if he were just punched straight in gut, knocking the wind out of him. His behavior is unlike anything he has witnessed in the past, and for once he was worried about the old man.

"I've never seen him act like this before." Cain gently spoke to the basatin while they descended back to the first floor. "Never once in my life have I seen the look of fear on that man's face. Nothing's ever phased him before. Nothing."

"Well, if I were in his shoes I'd probably feel the same way." Sebastian carried his hands in his duster pockets. "An enemy with the potential to rival a fully developed country. That's enough to get anybody scared. Military leader or not."

He sighed. "Yeah. You're right. I guess we're gonna have to wait then."

The two of them found themselves outside of the sturdy office complex. A few clouds rolled in overhead, blocking out the sun and made the encircling air much more comfortable to bathe in. Cain felt a rumbling in his stomach, the course of hunger started to overcome him, and asked the basatin if he would care to join him for something to eat. He politely refused and told the captain he wished to get on the case of the king in order to move it further along, without working alongside the general, and exposing his desire to work alone like he has done while in service with the hornet platoon. Both went their separate ways for now, and the closest place to eat was a small burger joint further down the avenue. It was a small diner, and it had a decent selection, but he wasn't interested in getting fancy today and ordered a good old classic meat patty with cheese. The order was made and he quickly received his burger from the kind waitress and dug in without a second thought. It was scrumptious and juicy and he quickly devoured it, making sure to leave a nice tip for the lady before leaving to the council hall again.

A few hours have passed by now and the sun was beginning to hide behind the tall buildings that enclosed the city streets. Cain was back in the hangar bay, observing the progress of the repairs on the damaged ship. The blotched hole on the top was cut into a perfect square now, and a few of the mechanics were working together to telekinetically lift a piece of metal hull to fit into that hole to be welded by those waiting on the fuselage. He was glad to see the vessel coming back together, knowing wholeheartedly that her time was far from being over and that this grounding was only a temporary setback. He was feeling a bit lonely, which was odd for him since his time in R.E.D. hardened him from such feelings, or perhaps he was spoiled by Sara'Zoe's short-lived, but comforting presence. Either way, he realized he was staring into nothingness for the longest time now and was feeling a bit groggy since the day started to turn into a late evening. He looked down at the hangar bay and noticed that it was a lot more vacant than before; most of the day workers were gone and a few new faces started to make their way onto the ship; it was the night crew, taking their turn to assist in the nonstop service that the vessel required.

_Just how long was I moping around for?_

He left the building in its entirety and dashed out under the twilight sky that hung high above him. Looking up to the mixture of blue and black, he could count the handful of stars that were out this evening, and felt a little ashamed at the small abundance of them. The city lights devoured the small points of light and it was nothing like what he saw back when he was stationed at remote bases far from civilization, where the stars were free to roam and conquer whatever they pleased in the night sky. He stared back at the past for a little while longer until he was jumped by a familiar nonchalant voice.

"Are you lost, sir?"

Cain snapped his head from the twilight and stared down at the mischievous wolf that stood before him. He was relieved to see his grease stained, overworked partner, knowing that he didn't have to make his trek back to the hotel by himself.

"You have a habit of dozing off, don't you?" Jargo continued his remarks.

Cain shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, it's a bad habit of mine. But it gets me thinking though."

They started to walk down the sidewalk on the main avenue, and the wolf raised a brow in concern over the captain's previous statement. "Oh? Enlighten me."

Cain shoved his hands in his pockets; the cold chill in the air became more noticeable since he left the protection of the council hall. "About the past. You ever stop to reminisce about the old days? You know, pat yourself on the back from your accomplishments."

Jargo looked indecisive about choosing his next words. His eyes shot left and right, but he eventually found what he was looking to say. "I don't know. I never really looked backed to the past. I kinda just shoved all of that to the back of my mind; kind of like old antiques that you keep in the attic. They stay up there, forgotten, but who knows, maybe I'll dust 'em off one day and take a good look at them as a healthy reminder."

The captain gave him a narrowed stare that warranted a similar expression on the wolf. There was a small pause before he resumed. "You're a laxed person, you know that? Almost as much as Hanowitz."

"I know. I just try to have a little fun with everything I do. No sense in leading a boring life, am I right?" The wolf took a few deep breathes to showcase his unrestrained ways.

"You're right." He agreed. "I'm glad that you can keep your head in the game when things get serious though."

"I'm just as serious as I am convivial."

They continued down the road for a little while longer and signaled for a cab that was opportunely stationed along the side of the road, knowing that their place of stay was still quite a ways further. The cabby, a young looking tiger, was leaning on the drivers side door, smoking a cigarette. He opened the door for the two soldiers, an uncommon friendly gesture that most taxis don't do anymore, and flicked smoke to the street and stomped it out before getting into the drivers seat and asking them their destination.

"The Conk Out Hotel please." Jargo responded.

"Roger that, boss."

In Cain's mind it was odd to see the tiger not question Jargo's appearance, especially since the rear of the car dipped due to his body's weight. He convinced himself that Jargo's unique physique and attitude warranted the wolf a type of mutual respect with the locals and other army officials of the UKE and also those that were stationed in Ibon City. After all, he was a military veteran with a saddening story, and those two characteristics alone would most certainly garner the respect that he deserves. The captain figured he would save the questions for later and focused on attempting to get some decent sleep for the night.

The cab ride was relatively short and cut down a major amount of time if they were to walk to the place. They thanked the driver, who offered his ride for free, and headed inside the building to, hopefully, have a night of relaxation. The same rooms from a few nights ago were booked just for them under military expense. Cain jotted his head around before asking the wolf a vital question.

"Do you know if Sebastian or Sara'Zoe are here yet?"

The wolf pressed the button for the fifth floor and soon the doors flew open for them to enter. "As far as I know, Sara'Zoe was heading up here a little bit earlier than us. She had a little conversation with me before heading out. Said she was feeling a little tired from some emotional strain mixed in with meditation. And Sebastian, I have no idea. Haven't seen the basatin since we landed here."

The elevator beeped as it rose to each individual floor. Cain used this time to know exactly how his team was getting along. "What do you think of them?"

The wolf smiled cautiously, not knowing what the captain was up to, but was honest with his opinion about the crew. "Sara'Zoe is...how should I say, different. She's very polite, don't get me wrong, but she has this sort of formality that just doesn't suite well with me and it feels like I'm talking to the president of the world." He crossed his arms. "But I'm not one to judge. She is from a different place that little to no one knows about. I just have to get used to her I guess. And Sebastian has that glint in his eyes that tells me he is a dedicated soldier, but I'm still curious to see him work together in a team."

"What do you mean? He fought along side us during the council hall attack."

"Yes, I know. But that lasted what, a whole ten, fifteen minutes? He's a sniper, Cain. He's built to last days on end on the battlefield with nothing but his gun, a canteen and a few protein bars for rations. I can't really say much about him yet, but in due time I'll be able to see the big picture."

The elevator made a final ding before resting the cabin on the floor where their rooms were. They continued down the red carpeted hallways that were flush with little wall lanterns, until they reached their specified rooms, which were all adjacent to one another. Jargo bid the captain a goodnight and mentioned something about having to give himself a good polish for the morning to come, which only left a sour image in his mind. Cain entered his room; it was a standard one bedroom abode with a small bathroom, a television placed on the wall near the floor of the bed for ease of access and a window that observed the glow of the late night strip down below. He wasted no time getting ready for sleep and took a quick shower and changed into a pair of shorts that he had laying around in one of the drawers along with a sleeveless shirt. He dove into the comfort of the chilled sheets and closed his eyes , praying for a well rested night.

Sara'Zoe laid motionless in her own bed and was breathing very slowly, well within a deep sleep. Her arms were wrapped around the soft white pillow that caressed the side of her face and she let out a subtle moan as she shifted her body over on its side. She felt cozy, wrapped inside the soft sheets that encased her body, and was well underway to feeling like a rejuvenated soul once the morning sun greeted her.

It was well into the night when she heard the sounds of a faint knock at her door, causing her to stir from her slumber. She was half asleep at this point and waited to see if she heard the knock again, judging it to see if it came from her dreams. She heard the noise again and whipped the sheets off of her body and turned the lamp on, with a simple touch of the finger, that was on the nightstand next to her bed, shading the room with a very dull light. The clock stated it was nearly three in the morning, and while Sara'Zoe was used to waking in the early hours, this was a little bit too much, even for her. She approached the door, unlocked it and opened it to find a distressed Cain, nearly baked in sweat. His face of anguish turned to that of discomfort as he looked down at the erusian's night time attire, and quickly shot his head away from her.

"Cain!" She tried not to yell after seeing his eyes that begged fr help. "What's the matter?"

"Sorry!" His eyes shifted elsewhere. "I didn't realize that you slept with only just your underwear on."

"Don't apologize. The body is the most beautiful thing that nature could create. It won't bother me if you look."

The captain was hesitant, but eventually manned up and took a subtle look at the figure of the erusian that stood in the doorway and in his mind; he thought she was drop dead gorgeous. Her body was toned, but not too muscular and her well developed arms and abs were clear evidence of that. The skimpy bra that exposed the top of her cleavage was of no help to him, along with the tight panties that were snug tight against her fairly wide hips. One of her features that craved the most attention were the light blue stripes that danced along the stomach and chest in an alluring way, and amazingly enough they were mirrored perfectly on each side of her body. Not only that, they stretched along the median of her breasts and sprouted towards her arms and halted near the the end of the bicep, while the rest of the stripes made their way up to her neck. He had no idea that these markings were that extensive, but they were mesmerizing, almost like a work of art.

"Sara'Zoe." He reached out his hand and barely grazed the stripes that went around her shoulders, causing her pupils to widen from the unexpected sensitive feeling. "I didn't realize these were all over you like this. Why do erusians have them?"

She took a step back and gestured him to enter the room. He closed the door behind him and he saw the erusian standing in the middle of the room with a finger on a particular spot on her chest, just below the heart.

"These marks are what make us who we are. When an erusian is born, our patterns all begin the same; a small circular blue dot that starts where the very soul resides." Her fingers then traced the lines that went down towards her belly. "Throughout our lives, we gain wisdom and strength, but our ways of obtaining these types of attributes will differ from one another and as such, our patterns will develop in their own unique way." She looked down at her hand and invited the captain to do the same. "The ones you see around my chest and arms and legs grow when we achieve new heights in magical capability. Mana is part of your very essence, whether you're erusian or not; the cosmos' energies are gathered mostly through the earth by the legs and feet and is stored in your spirit." She pointed to the blue circular disk on her chest and then guided her finger down her arms. "And that energy is expelled and manipulated through your arms and hands. In a sense, the world does your bidding." She took both her hands and pointed to the stripes that reside near her cheeks and temples. "On the other side, there are those who search for the infinite pool that is wisdom, and the brain is the section where all of that information is stored. In time, these stripes will sprout from the soul and make there way towards the processor that is our minds. The more knowledge we achieve, the more patterns will bud along the face. But remember this, no two patterns are the same and each of them defines who we are and what we've accomplished in life. It's synonymous to a fingerprint, in a way."

"And I think it's beautiful."

She made an almost silent gasp at his compliment. "Thank you. It is a work of nature after all. Anyway, you need to tell me what's wrong. The look you gave me when you first arrived was absolutely terrifying."

"Yeah, I do. Mind if we sit down?"

She took a few steps and sat on the edge of the bed and patted her hand on the bedding, inviting him over to sit next to her. Cain plopped his rear and caused the bed to shake a little bit. Sara'Zoe examined his body before asking anymore questions, and narrowed her eyes and focused on detecting his aura; it was one of anxiety.

"Tell me everything." She whispered after feeling his suffering.

Cain rubbed his forehead and exhaled in an unsettling fashion. "For the past couple of weeks now I've been having reoccurring nightmares. The same thing happens in each dream and nothing ever changes. I-I-I feel like I'm going insane. I can't sleep anymore." He slouched over in defeat and propped his body up with his forearms on his knees. "I don't know what to do."

The erusian placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it with care and felt awful that he has been in pain for so long. But now knowing this has been happening for some time now, she wondered why he didn't mention it earlier. "You said you weren't going to keep anything bottled up anymore. Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

He sat back up and looked her in the eyes. "Because I keep fooling myself into thinking it will go away."

"Please, tell me about your dreams. It will make you feel better."

He sighed in regret, but he knows it's the only chance he has at ridding himself of these horrifying images. "I usually find myself in a vacant, foggy city with nothing around except for the screams of people who are begging for my help. They call my name, wanting mercy from whatever torment they were suffering. Their pleas become louder and more crisp until I realized the roads are lined with dead bodies of humans, basatins, everybody. A huge craft hovers above the buildings, encasing everything in a white, hypnotic light while while the figure a woman sways in the distance. I approach her, wanting to help her, but I grab her shoulder and I see these god awful images." Cain's voice started to shake. "Death, destruction, and these misty, demonic shadows laugh at my demise. But the worst part about it, is that the woman I grabbed, was you."

She opened her eyes a little bit more in disbelief. "You dreamt of me? But we haven't even met until a few days ago."

"I know. And that's what's bothering me." He grunted from a sight headache due to a lack of sleep. "I just feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders right now, and when I first saw you back at the palace, I had to keep myself from falling over." He then smacked the tops of his legs with open fists in frustration. "What have I done to deserve this? Is this a sign? And how the hell could I know what you looked like if I never saw you in my life?"

"Shhh, it's okay Cain. It was only a dream. And dreams are only random images that play inside your head." She scooted closer to him, their legs almost touching, and squeezed his shoulder a bit harder, letting him she was there for him. His expression didn't change from her comforting posture, and she knew she had to do something to oppress his grief. An idea blinked into her mind and she made haste, quickly placing her hand on his cheeks and locked eyes with him, their noses barely touched. She breached into his mind, and it was a feeling of pure bliss to the man. She saw all of the images he described: the city, the fog, dreadful screams of agony and the metallic monster that floated high above. The familiar body that stood motionless in the distance and the other flashes of pictures only caused the erusian to shiver uncontrollably, and Cain's description didn't bring justice as to how horrific they truly were. Collapsing buildings, cities on fire, innocents being tortured; killed, and these dark, longs limbed, misty shadows towered over, making her feel insignificant, but these these beings sparked something in her, as if she had a faint but distant memory of them. Nevertheless the shadow figures disappeared and she met face to face with her burnt, disfigured and sorrowed self, and for once, Sara'Zoe experienced pure terror. Seeing herself in that condition only questioned his dream further. Was this a sign of things to come? Or was this all just an improbable coincidence? Either way, she noticed her mirrored image appeared to be slightly off, and it took her a second to realize this portrayal was missing the golden headband that signified her iconic position as a Magus. She didn't think much of it, but her time in his dream depleted and she returned back into her own conscience, and before she fully retreated she let out a pulse of positive energy from her hands that too, invaded his mind to rid him of his negative thought.

He leaned back in surprise from this euphoric change in emotion, and as a result, Sara'Zoe's hands glided off his cheeks and were rested on the bed sheets beside her. The human was breathing deeply, and he questioned the erusian due to his sudden feeling of exhaustion.

"What." He huffed. "Did you do to me?"

"I breached into your memory to see exactly what was haunting you." She folded her hands together. "And what I saw was...rather disturbing, so I decided erase all forms of adverse vigor. I couldn't let you suffer like that. But," She paused and looked down at her hands in an insecure fashion. "after seeing myself like that, I can't shake the feeling that maybe your dreams are some sort of premonition."

At this point, Cain began to calm himself and his breath slowed to a normal pace and he leaned his back against the foot board of the bed in a relaxing pose. For the first time in a while he wasn't afraid to go back to sleep.

"Is...that so?" He slurred his words from exhaustion.

"I don't know. I can't say, but maybe I'm thinking too – " She stopped after being interrupted and seeing the now half-asleep captain, propped up against the cold, hard wood.

"Sara'Zoe. You're a miracle worker." He left her with the faintest of smiles before drifting off. "Thank you..."

She looked on at the man that was now fast asleep on her bed and was surprised that he passed out as quickly as he did. She was fine with his presence and she did what a loyal teammate would do in a situation such as this one; to let the guy sleep in her bed. Of course, she had the problem of not trying to wake the man while moving his body to a more comfortable position under the sheets, but his resolve for sleep was so strong, he didn't wake as the erusian got up and picked up his body and laid him on his back with his head resting on the soft, white pillow and pulling the sheets over his body. She was grateful that Cain remained asleep, but now she had to find someplace of her own to catch some shut eye and she had some basic materials to build a makeshift bed. She looked in the closet nearby, and found some extra bedsheets and a pillow, and after a more thorough search, she located the bedspread that could be used for cushioning. After placing the puffy covers on the floor near the bed, she laid down and set the covers over herself and closed her eyes to return to the graceful sleep she experienced beforehand.

Morning quickly came and Sara'Zoe was up well before the captain and it was to be expected since she knew he had a rough night, fighting with his mentality. She cleaned up her temporary bed and placed all of the components back into the closet and returned to check the time. It was nearly ten o'clock, much later than she wanted to wake, and contemplated what to do, seeing as how Cain was still well asleep. Looking down at her half-naked self, she decided to at least get dressed into her normal attire, knowing well that he wasn't that complacent of seeing a female exposing too much skin, and it was something that she didn't understand. The customs of non-erusians was something that she still had to get used too, and in due time she will adapt to their society whether she wanted to or not.

After slipping on her white clothing and strapping on her golden armor, she chose to wait for the man to wake from his slumber and to make sure that everything was okay with him. She sat on the floor, seiza style, and meditated until she heard the rustling of covers and the pleasant groans of a well rested sleeper. Only an hour has passed since she began her typical routine of concentration and she decided that now was a good time to greet the late morning napper, by standing over the bed and watching him in hopes that her gaze will somehow snap him out of his slumber. Her wish was granted, and Cain slowly opened his eyes to see the blurry image of a white figure overhanging him. His eyes shot open because of the sheer unpleasant feeling of someone watching you while you sleep, but he instantly calmed himself when Sara'Zoe's body came into a full, clear resolution.

"Sara'Zoe?" He rubbed the sides of his face vigorously. "What are you doing here?"

"I stayed to see if my remedy was of any use, and from what I see, you've rested very well."

Cain cat up in the bed and looked around the room with a baffled glimmer in his eyes. "You let me sleep here? Where were you then?"

"I made accommodations and set up a mattress on the floor."

He looked up at the erusian. "You didn't have to do that you know. You should have woken me and I would have went back to my own place."

She tilted her head, and her voice was backed by a small hint of faithfulness. "Cain, I am not just your squad mate. I am your servant. You were in need, and I provided for you. And don't be sorry about the floor bed. I'm used to not living a life of luxury, so there was no impedance and it reminded me of the times when I roamed the wilderness, utilizing the materials around me to suit my necessities."

"Oh. Okay. As long as you aren't insulted by it."

She shook her head, which gave Cain a sense of relief after knowing that he intruded onto her personal grounds as much as he did. He then threw the bedsheets off of himself and excused himself so that he can return to his domicile to get changed into a more casual wear. As he was about to head for the door, he was stopped in place by the erusian's soft, elegant voice.

"Cain. I want to ask you something."

He turned around to face the woman, who was now a few feet closer to him. "Sure."

"I wish to train along side you for the next few days that we'll be here, if you would allow me to do so." She placed her hands together in a pleading gesture. "Your skills were very admirable when you fought the White Hand, and I want to get in tune with what makes you so ferocious."

"So, a type of learning experience then?" He folded his arms.

"Yes." She nodded. "I want to visualize how you humans get in touch with one's inner self. There are so many questions I want answered about the civilizations outside of Erusian borders, and I figured this would be a decent start since we are both hardened warriors."

"Fair enough." He released his arms and pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards the door. "Give me a few minutes to get ready and I'll be back here as soon as I'm done."

She was grateful for him to accept her offer and for the first they've known each other, he saw what appeared to be the presence of a small smile on her face. Her joyous notion left the captain with an uplifted aura, and as soon as as he departed her room he wondered why that woman fluttered with such an appealing and assured ambience. He supposed it was part of her character, but it felt almost forced and unnatural, and there was a possibility that it was just residual energy from the spectacle she performed on him the night before. Either way, he was grateful to have an enigma such as her on the team and he looked forward to seeing how an erusian performs under physical load, and as such, he hurried to was up and put on his armor, careful not to stub his exposed feet on the legs of the furniture in the process.

After a short, but thorough cleanup, he encased himself in his armor and brought along his trusty shotgun and a small service pistol for a backup, just in case if things potentially go sour like they did when they first arrived here and the added weight will provide for a better simulation of realistic combat. He rushed out of his room, the flow of Sara'Zoe's brightened smile still coursing inside him, and knocked on the erusian's door. In the opened doorway, she applauded his rapid readiness and asked him where they were going to go to train. Cain knew that the VR room in The Concord would have been the optimal spot, but the ship is still out of commission for now, so an alternative needed to be found. The only issue is that they were in an unknown city that appeared to be mostly a concrete jungle of offices and government buildings, and an ideal spot for showing her the ropes quickly began to diminish.

"I'll have to go ask around to see if there's a place for just us two. Ibon City doesn't seem like the kind of area to do stuff like this." Cain proclaimed.

"No. Lets not waste any time. I have a better idea." Sara'Zoe placed her fingertips on either side of her headband. "Get close."

Cain leaned back slightly in confusion. "Wait. Why? What are you doing?"

"We are going someplace more convenient. Now come." She demanded.

He complied without question and stepped within a few inches of her person and observed as she performed a strange ritual in front of him. Her fingers remained in the same place and she closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the ceiling. The symbols on her headpiece dimmed a green light and a glowing, green circle etched itself on the floor that was just big enough for them to step into. The captain began to feel butterflies in his chest and a sense of weightlessness began to take him over. He looked around in panic as he saw green barriers shoot up from the circular pattern on the floor that now encased both their bodies.

"Uh, Sara'Zoe?" She didn't respond. "Sara'Zoe!"

She opened her eyes that were now possessed by the same colored light that trapped them inside the energetic prison, and he head remained fixated on the ceiling. Once again she was unresponsive and the tingling sensation only proved to become much worse than it was before now that the barriers were closing in, threatening to crush them. Cain closed his eyes, entrusting the erusian with his life, and the green walls of light collapsed upon them, vanishing any evidence that they were ever there. The cascade of energy that fell upon him only lasted a fraction of a second, but its intensity was so strong, the man was temporarily blinded and stumbled about like a bar hopper whose had one too many. His legs felt like they were about to give any second, and after a brief and unlikely search, he panned with his hands and felt the flat surface of a vertical incline and sat down with a loud thump, leaning his back on the hard surface. He was breathing hard, but thankfully the green sparkling light slowly diminished from his sight, and his blindness was beginning to subside.

To Cain, the environment felt quite different from the dry atmosphere of the city, but now it felt more damp and cooler from the subdued gusts of wind that pulsated every now and then. The dimming sun was just above the false horizon of the rock's edge, but there was nothing else in front of him; just the pinkish-orange skies that announced that twilight was upon him. He wondered where Sara'Zoe has gone too, and that question was quickly answered when he noticed a shadow, cast across the rock's surface ahead of him in the shape of a familiar figure. Next to him stood the erusian who wasn't phased by the insurmountable amount of energy that was just outputted moments ago offered a hand for the downed human. Cain gripped it and pulled himself up to his feet and stared at her with squinted eyes in annoyance. She took the message sincerely and apologized to the captain for nearly giving him a heart attack.

"I should have warned you first, Cain. I'm sorry. But seeing as how you took my queen's blessing so well, I figured this wouldn't have that much more of a deprived effect on you."

"Yeah, you should have." He rattled his head to get the blood flowing as he was still feeling a little lightheaded. Looking around, still he only saw the light brown of rock. "Where are we anyway?"

"Erusia." She trailed away from the captain and walked a few feet in the direction of the setting sun and waved him over.

"Erusia?" Cain held the most perplexed tone and listened to his teammate's command. "That can't be. That's on the other side of the...world." His words slowed down to a crawl as he approached along side the erusian. They were in Erusia to Cain's disbelief, and the everlasting forest that stretched beyond its earthly bounds along with the protruding mana crystals that stuck out of the rock's base, far below where they stood made that clear to him. Trapped in the county's benevolent beauty of nature, Sara'Zoe nudged him out of his trance and asked the man about his training procedures.

"What do you human's do to begin your exercise of mental and physical exertion?"

"Straight to the point now, are we?" Cain teased her, but she wasn't amused and appeared to become impatient from his question. "Alright then. Usually stretching is a great way to start any training regiment. It'll get the blood flowing and it will prevent any cramps from creeping up on you."

"Please, show me this stretching technique." She urged on with her hands.

Cain furrowed his brow's in another case of dumbfoundedness. "Wait. You've never heard of stretching?"

"Yes, and, well, no." She placed a finger underneath her bottom lip. "The term 'stretching' for your kind, I assume, is analogous to meditation for us. The mind is the gateway to all understanding and learning, and the best way to soak in and expel these experiences is by opening it and letting every ounce of trouble be released into the ambient. It is so calming and soothing and is the perfect way to prepare for any endeavor."

"I think you've got the picture then." Cain proceeded to show her how he starts his morning routines by sitting on the floor, extending his legs outward and spread them apart until he achieved a point where a subtle prick of pain burned into his inner thighs. He remained in that spot for a couple of minutes and then placed his legs into a more laxed position in order to give them a rest.

"See? Like that, except we want to do it for all of the major muscle groups." He invited her to do the same. "Why don't you try?"

She sat down in front of him, facing him, and spread her legs just as far as he did to his. She looked unsatisfied by her current posture, so she forcibly pulled her legs so far back, that they made a perfect straight line through and through. Cain's jaw slightly opened from the erusian's flexible attribute and he heard a pleasured sigh come from her mouth.

"Wow! You were right Cain. This feels...exquisite!" She pointed her toes outward to further extrapolate this sensation. "I can definitely feel pain, but this is something different than that."

Cain smiled from her delighted expression. "I'm glad you're enjoying it."

Sara'Zoe rested her hand under her chin, pondering. "Hmm. I wonder if I can hybridize this. Utilizing both meditation and this stretching simultaneously, I should be able to achieve a greater sense of contemplation."

The continued their warmup, and Cain showed her various stretching moves that will aid her in the coming hours. Gratefully, she mimicked his every move while diving into her own realm inside her head. She held her eyes closed for the entire session and only opened them when she felt she was ready to learn the next move that he had to show her. The captain watched on, captivated by her serious concentration and her ability to maintain such positions that were pushed beyond even his own limit. In his eyes, it looked painful, but she didn't even make a grunt, and he knew that she was enjoying this experience due to her relaxed and unbothered face. This period of stretching lasted for nearly an hour and Cain was willing and ready to go, as well as Sara'Zoe who stood up shortly after he did.

"What do you do next?" Sar'Zoe asked, while extending her arm towards the sky for one final stretch.

"Intense cardio exercise is the next step. Like running, for example, or any strenuous activity that'll get the blood pumping."

Sara'Zoe scaled her eyes up and down the giant rock that towered over them. "Running sounds a bit mundane, don't you think?"

"What did you have in mind then?" He crossed his arms.

"If you can make it to the top of this small mountain, I'd like to show you something special up there." She smirked. "Are you able to do it?"

Cain turned around and looked straight up at the overwhelming rock face. It certainly was intimidating, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve that could get him up there, but there was no guarantee. "Yeah. It's no problem."

She placed her hands on her hips, not convinced by his words. "Your confidence is striking, Cain. Or do I sense a hint of a white lie?" She held her chin up high, looking down at him, testing his resolve.

"Well, if you don't believe me, then there's only one way to find out." He line up next to her and faced the small mountain, as if in some sort of competition.

"Very well. I'll see you at the top." She veered over he shoulder at him. "That's if you can make it." She levitated slowly off of the ground, to the point where her feet were only inches off of the rock. The awed look in Cain's face only increased her egotistical demeanor, and she looked down at him one final time before she directed her head towards the summit and flew at a nominal speed in that direction. It wasn't that fast, but it was enough for him to lose her if he didn't act with haste. Knowing very well that he can't fly, Cain instead used his blinking technique to scale up the sides of the rock in decent sized intervals. Concentrating, he vanished from the ledge he was standing on previously, and teleported onto the rock face where a small ledge could be used for leverage for him to hang onto. He was already about fifty feet from where he was, but Sara'Zoe was still well ahead of him. Again he flashed in a blue ball and found a nice edge to stand on higher up on the mountain; he was starting to catch up. But after each individual blink, he was draining himself of more and more energy, and it was becoming clear that he couldn't go on like this for too much longer. He was getting closer and closer to her with each shift, but his tardiness would increase just as much if not more. The top was near at this point and Cain hatched a mischievous little plan. Seeing as how Sara'Zoe was only a couple dozen feet at this point, and she was very close to the face of the mountain, he made one last blink to get at a height that was slightly above her. The erusian saw him through her peripherals, but decided to ignore his presence. Cain position his body out of the teleportation so that his legs were well bent on the rock's surface, giving him enough room to exert as much force as he can to propel himself towards the woman. The great leap nearly missed, but he was able to latch onto her armored ankle with one hand, which gave her a sudden surprise from the increased weight. She looked down and saw that she was towing the human. Her face was full of irritation, and she yelled something at him, but it was inaudible due to the vast wind currents that blew by his ears.

Eventually they made it to the top, where Sara'Zoe hovered a foot or two off of the ground allowing him to disembark, and landing next to him after he safely anchored himself on the surface. She eyed him for a bit in a detestable manner and lashed out after the captain provoked her with a taunting grin.

"Cain! What were you thinking?!" She huffed. "You could have easily missed and fallen to your death!"

He put his hands out in front of him to calm her down. "Take it easy Sar'Zoe. I knew what I was doing."

Scoffing at his comment, she crossed her arms in a rebelling manner. "No you didn't. It was an unnecessary risk that could have easily ended your life."

"Sorry! I couldn't help that I was getting tired. I needed to hitch a ride is all." He put on a fake smile to appease her and hoped that his joke would at least tame her a bit.

"A ride that could have been your last." She muttered, obviously not amused by his sense of humor.

"Oh come on Sara'Zoe. I just don't like giving up."

"Cain, you had me worried for a moment." She rested a hand on her chest, and her mood turned to that of near anguish, something that he didn't mean to do. "Please, don't be so headstrong, for your own sake."

Cain sighed as he listened to the woman barter at her like his mother during his pubescent years. Being so caught within the argument, he didn't take the time to observe exactly why she decided to bring him here in the first place. He looked beyond her and saw a dilapidated, stone temple-like structure resting on the center of the mountain's peak with three worn statues near its entrance like divine guardians. Their genders could be easily identified; one man and two women, but the purpose and meaning of these huge, stone figures remained unknown to him. The entrance to the building was open, but it was impossible to see inside from the sheer lack of lighting, and whatever mysteries that were kept inside would be only revealed if the captain were to go on a detoured adventure, but nevertheless he thought that maybe asking her would be a better solution.

"Say, what is that?" He pointed to the ancient looking structure.

"That is Aedum Deum, or in your language, the Temple of The Gods." She walked over to the base of one of the female statues and rested her hand on its base. "These three beings are the ones we worship, the ones that have created who we are and guided us to become the great empire that we are now."

"I see." Cain looked up at the statues. "Is this what you wanted to show me?"

She nodded her head in response. "This temple is where I resided for nearly a century, training myself to become one with the gods. I spent countless hours in and of meditation, pushing myself to the limit, just so that I can prove to them that I am worthy of their wisdom and knowledge. Much blood and sweat has been spilled here by me, but it was just enough to appease them."

"What did they teach you?"

"How to become one with the light." She closed her eyes and looked up towards the reddening sky.

"What do you mean?" He asked, unable to decipher the meaning of her sentence.

She slowly lowered her head and looked back at the human. "I can't tell you. The teachings of the gods are absolutely withheld only for those that are chosen at birthright and considered worthy. If I were to even mention anything, even as much as a wisp, about their secrets, I will be eternally punished."

Now that his curiosities have been temporarily crushed, he focused his attention towards the crumbling temple in front of him. "Is that where you trained?"

Sara'Zoe saw what he was looking at and confirmed his suspicions. "Yes. To be more exact, that is where I meditated."

"Can we go inside?"

"Absolutely not."

"You're a killjoy, you know that?"

She stomped the ground with her foot. "Cain, you must respect what I am and what I had to do to fully obtain my title. That temple is a part of sacred ground, and it doesn't feel right to let you in there."

Cain shook his in agreement after reveling in thought about her words. He had no idea that this place was so hallowed and he was honored that she even thought about bringing him here, let alone actually doing it. He took her word and decided to leave the subject alone for now and instead he wanted to focus on why they came here in the first place.

"So, Sara'Zoe. Now that we're up here. How about we continue our training session?"

The erusian eased up and shook her head with enthusiasm. "Yes! That would be lovely. What did you want to do next?"

"I was thinking of going through some basic drills, but like you said earlier that might be a little too boring for you. So, how about we spar instead then?" She smacked his fist into an open palm.

"You? Fight me?" A hint of concern engulfed her voice. "I don't think that's the greatest of ideas, Cain."

"Then we'll go easy on each other. You know, a friendly fight."

"Hmm. A friendly fight?" She rubbed her chin. "No such thing existed in the empire, only bloodshed in the combat arenas that took place long ago."

"Lets hope you won't kill me then." He said with a smirk. "You want to do this, or not?"

The erusian's hands lit a light blue and her gauntlets cracked with the same color. A new spark ignited in her eyes and it was a ferocity that sent his blood into a boiling torrent. "Yes. Let's fight." She hissed. This aggressive behavior is completely antithetical of her peaceful, controlled self, and Cain for a moment was unsure of what think of it, but he trusted that she wouldn't do anything too rash to cause him harm. Both of them moved away from the temple, so that it wouldn't obstruct their battle, and once they were a decent ways away, they stared each other down and held their arms up defensively.

A short amount of time has passed, and their eyes never left their lock and not even a single blink was able penetrate the thickened gaze. A whip formed in Sara'Zoe's right hand, the same one she used in the Basatin's castle, and bent her arm so that her hand was just about to greet her ear. The whip caressed her forearm and dangled along her hip as if she were about to teach a bad dog a valuable lesson. Her came down rapidly, accompanied by the whip, and it crashed down onto the rock's surface, causing tremors that shook up the captain's legs. As a response, he positioned his arms in a defensive guard, ready to cast any spells that will hopefully counter whatever she had to throw at him.

Without wanting to wait any longer, she threw her arm outward, where the whip screamed across the air at blinding speeds, heading straight for the captain. Cain opened his eyes wider from its impressive, blurring pace, and was able strafe his legs to the right to shift his body to avoid being hit with barely a hairs worth of breathing room. The blue string cracked the air behind him as it missed its target, but his distraction from this attack only blinded him from the next incoming strike from a second one, in which he tumbled to the left and fluently rolled back up onto his feet. His eyes were vigorously set on her, and he saw that she was licking her lips on a hunt for blood.

She retracted both arms to retrieve her weapons, and Cain had to duck to avoid the backlash. Again she flung the whips, but this time she did it in a rhythmic fashion where by the time one whip was extended and ready to retreat, she sent the second one out for a taste, leaving Cain to constantly dodge to prevent himself from being hit, which left him no room to counterattack. Sara'Zoe watched on as she made the human dance at her fingertips; an experience that she enjoyed so much to be in control. Continuing her onslaught, she new that he will eventually slip and that it will only be a matter of time until one of her whips finds its mark.

Cain juked left and right to avoid the energetic bands, and he was getting tired of playing her game. There was only one way out of this, and that was to confront her head on; it's what he knows best. In between the strokes of her attacks, he readied his fists ahead of him and blinked within arms reach of her and extended both limbs simultaneously so that they would strike her chest with one devastating blow. He exerted a magical force into his strike, which caused her to fly back a couple dozen feet, grunting in pain from his stealthy move. Her whips were tangled alongside the ground beside her, and she slowly rose after smashing a fist into the rock, leaving a noticeable indent, and a growl so ferocious sneaked passed her clenched teeth, that Cain was sure he must have snapped something inside her. Again she looked at the captain with sparked eyes and before long, she exhaled deeply to release the ferocity that overcame her, and her normal, tamed look took over. Her eyes closed once again in peaceful serendipity, and she raised her left arm so that it extended towards her opposing ear while widening her stance into a squatting position. An ominous blue glow helixed around her raised hand and shortly after she exerted her arm towards him, and grunted as a thin beam of bluish light gleamed from her two adjacent pointed fingers, and instantaneously struck him dead center in the chest.

The intensity of the light was so prevalent, that its momentum pushed him back a few feet, causing him to skid along the balls of his feet. Luckily his armor was able to absorb the light in its entirety, but the portion near his chest was in danger of melting as it glowed a searing white before cooling itself to a less, but still, feverous bright red. The air near Sara'Zoe's fingers sizzled and bent in illusion. Giving the man no quarter, she remained in her bent position and waved her arms until they crossed one another near her chest and again, she lunged her arm toward him, but this time her entire palm directed a blast that was several times larger than the previous one. Cain noticed her preparation and created a personal mana shield that coated every contour of his person, along with a hovering, circular barrier just beyond that. The unleashed blast struck the first shield, easily cracking it to bits within seconds, and then slowly ate away at the layer that floated barely a few centimeters above his armor. Again he found himself in a tight pinch and that a direct hit from this beam would only prove to cause serious injury, so he relied on the technique he used earlier in hopes of getting another surprise attack on her.

As he phased out of the blink spell, he was met with a surprising downward block that thwarted his pressurized punch. And now that he was wide open, the erusian seized the opportunity and swiftly hooked in a gut wrenching punch that caused the man to gasp for air. Using her forward momentum, she swung her body around with her fist still connected to his belly, and crashed him into the stoned ground with the force of a small quake. His shield never stood a chance. Sara'Zoe watched on as he became desperate for breath and bent down on her knees and whispered in his ear with a few words of wisdom.

"Never pull the same move twice. Hopefully you have learned from your mistake." She lifted up her fist and spoke with a contentious tone. "Now get up!"

Cain rolled onto his stomach, still writhing in pain, and struggled momentarily to pull himself to his feet. His lungs were beginning to recover and here is where he decided to show her no mercy. He punched three times in rapid succession at the air in front of him, and three fireballs hissed straight towards the erusian, who easily deflected them with her gauntlets. In retaliation, Sara'Zoe unleashed an arc of lightning at the human, but he was able to absorb the energy into his hand and harmlessly dissipated it into the rock like the ground of a circuit. Seeing as how the spell was having little effect, she gritted her teeth and exerted more energy into the sparking flay with no avail, since the captain continued to redirect the flow of current while marching towards her at a steady pace. The ambient light of her spell prevented her from visually confirming if it has done any damage, and as such, she ceased the flow of mana to observe her finding, but to her surprise, he disappeared.

Readying her stance again, she looked left and right for the human, but he was gone. For a moment, there was complete silence with the occasional gust of mountain air. She tried to sense his presence, but there was none and obviously she knew he was hiding it well. And then, for a split second, she felt a small tingle from behind her and swayed to the left to avoid the energized blade from the Captain's arm. The blue, phased sword whizzed by where her head used to be, and it cut a small lock of her hair that wasn't able to move out of the way in time. She rotated her body around to face him, but Cain was on the offensive this time, and another blade emerged from other arm and sliced the air in a cross cut, only to be clashed with the erusian's armored arms. Both struggled to gain an advantage and there was no clear victor. Cain's arms shook as he mustered all of his strength into his strike, but the erusian remained tenacious and smiled as she slowly began to push his arms away with superhuman strength.

"I am not that easy to defeat, Cain." She chuckled. "But I applaud your effort. Now witness the pure essence of erusian might!"

After letting out a battle roar, she threw his arms away and exerted a cyclone of energy around her that exploded outward, knocking Cain clear off his feet and slamming his body near the base of the statues. He was out cold, and she knew that he would be alright. The echoes of her self eruption cracked throughout the summit's atmosphere; a signal defining the end of their bout that could potentially be heard for miles away. She approached the motionless body and knelt beside him to turn him over so that his belly would face the sky. Her hand caressed his cheek, and she sent a wave of healing down his body to return him back to good health, and as a result, his eyes peeked open at the sigh of her sorrowed face.

"I'm sorry you had to see this side of me, but us erusians are battle hardened. It is an instinctual mindset that has existed for millennia, and eventually you would have confronted it." She waited for him to talk, but there was no response. "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad, actually." He leaned up after she slid her hand off of his face. "For a second, though, it thought you were going to rip me to pieces."

"I would never, Cain." She let on a most pleasured smile. "You've impressed me Cain. For the first time fighting a human, I almost underestimated you. You caught me off guard a couple of times, and very few have been able to do that."

"Why did you underestimate me? That's the number one rule of battle, and you've broken it."

"I know." She nodded in agreement from her own blemish. "But hear me out. When I first began observing your kind, I remained unimpressed with what I had seen. Your magical abilities were sub-par. Your society was disarrayed with struggles of power between classes for the longest time, and your disorganization as a species only made you pointless to mingle with."

"But that was a long time ago. We've changed."

"I understand that. I've been around for a long time now, relative to your kind, and I've witnessed humanity's change of pace for the better, and to be honest, I didn't care if I was never introduced to them, but seeing as how your kind was suffering at the hands of an unknown force, all of that changed. But, for some reason my resentment for humans remained unfazed until I heard about you." She stared deeply into his eyes. "My queen kept mentioning you name. A human name. She had told me of who you were, and what you have selflessly done for others in the past." She looked down at the ground as if captivating the moment once again. "And after seeing your picture, I knew that humans maybe weren't as bad as I remembered, and at that point I wanted to help your species as much as I possibly could."

"Which is why you're here now." He put the puzzle together.

"Exactly." She looked back up to him.

"Well, I'm happy that I was able to help you see what we're truly capable of then. Us humans made terrible mistakes in the past and we're still trying to ratify our wrongdoings."

"And it bring me such joy to assist you and your kind in any way possible." She rose and offered him a hand. "Now then. Where did we leave off?"

Cain pulled himself up with her assistance and shook his head, refusing her offer. "I think that's enough for one day."

"I thought you said you never liked giving up." She teased him and rested her hands on her waist.

"I don't. It's just that after fighting you, and how you pretty much tossed me around like a toy, I don't really see a point in this. I'll just be holding you back." The captain stated with an honest voice.

Placing a hand on his chest, she convinced him otherwise. "That's not true. To you I may be old, but here I am still considered young, which leaves so much room for me to learn. And having this quarrel with you has taught me a few things Cain, and with these adventures that I will be embarking with you, I expect to learn a lot more." Her hand departed and met with her other one as they interlocked. "And you too, Cain, have so much to gain from this experience. I know you will." He smiled at her positive gesture and from here, she decided that maybe it was best to return back to the city. "Come. Let's get going."

"Before we leave," He interjected. "I want to ask you a couple of things, that'll hopefully clear some stuff up." She motioned him to continue. "One: I didn't realize you could fly. Two: How in the hell were you able to get us out here in the first place? And three: Are all erusian's as unnaturally strong as you are?"

Smiling she answered him without hesitation. "I'll happily provide you with all that you wish to know, Cain. Yes, I possess the ability to fly, but only those of the highest understandings of magic are able to do so and even then, I can't maintain it for too long. It's very draining on the body." She moved on to the next question. "This temple is mine and the other Magus' sanctuary and it is a place where we go if we're feeling troubled or wish to communicate with the gods. And since being able to get here in a whim would be most convenient, we were blessed to use the crystals trapped inside the rock as a type of gateway which requires little intervention on our part. And for your last question, it depends. Some erusians dedicate their lives in becoming stronger and there are those who seek only wisdom. The former or a hybrid such as myself, tend to become relatively strong in comparison with the other races, but that is only because of the amount of time we have been granted to reach this state. With enough patience and dedication, anyone could achieve a stronger aptitude in the centuries that is our youth."

Cain thought about her words and understood them completely, and looking back at their battle, he wondered what he was thinking in accepted the match between the two. For all he knows, she could have been holding back, resulting her true potential remaining unclear until they come face to face with the true enemy. "Thanks Sara'Zoe. You can take us back now."

"Yes, Captain." She took a few steps closer to him and performed the same ritual as she did in the hotel. A barrier formed around them and then quickly closed, causing them to leave behind the familiarities of the ruined temple and her homeland, and the sheer might of the spell crackled the air again with false thunder. A dark storm brewed in the distance with its heavy cloak ominously coating the jungle skies, and somewhere else on the world a similar tempest grew, waiting to be unleashed.


	5. Chapter 4 Part 1

**Chapter 4**

The silence of the hangar bay was offset from its previous state not too long ago. All work on the ship has ceased; its repairs completed, and now it waited for its crew to return home where they belong. A few days have passed since Cain and his loyal erusian had their loyal bout, and now the four of them, along with the rest of the team, were stationed inside the cold reinforced walls of the hidden shipyard, waiting for orders from the captain on what to do next. Many things have occurred withing these few dozen hours; from the ship's repair to a well rested and eagerly waiting crew, but the most important breakthrough was the lonesome investigation that Sebastian set a course for. In his own private world, he was able to dig up some critical information about the most recent disappearances in the city of Franselburg, which had the possibility opening up the most treacherous scandal to date.

At the base of the hangar, Sebastian stood attentive next to Hanowitz who were both going to present their findings to the rest of the Concord's inhabitants. Cain smelt the scent of a correctly presumed assumption from the conversation he had earlier between the two, but the other members remained in a shroud of unawareness as to what could be going on behind closed doors.

"I figured I'd gather you all here in person before you head out on your own again." Hanowitz motioned his arm towards the basatin. "The reason I called this meeting is because Sebastian and I have been cooperating with the intelligence divisions of Ania and the UKE to find out exactly what the hell happened a few days ago. We may have found the lead we were looking for folks."

"That's right." The basatin stepped forward and took control of the announcement. "We believe that King Risberton is somehow involved in all of this. And I back this assumption fully. As such, I took the liberty of conduction an investigation on my own accord, and what I found, certainly was convincing, with the help of sir Hanowitz during my final sweep." He paused and looked at the general, who nodded his head to urge him onward. "To get to the point ladies and gentleman, we've discovered those so called transmissions that were interpreted by the basatin intel division, were ultimately staged."

"How do you know that, brother?" Seth asked, seeming to be a little skeptical about their findings.

"After contacting both Anian and UKE agents," He continued. "we were able to backtrack the king's statements from when we first met the council. We searched for hours on end, looking for any physical proof that the transmission actually existed in the basatin's database. It turns out there wasn't. Any trace, besides when I and the rest of the squad listened to it at the meeting, has either vanished or it never existed in the first place, and what's even more astonishing is that the supposed patrol that was out there has never been documented."

"But, this information, Sebastian. Not even a government complex like this would house these types of documents. How were you able to obtain them initially?" Sophia's ears were erect, waiting for him to give them a response.

"Being tied in with the military for so long on such a deep level has its benefits, Sophia. I have my ways."

Jargo had his arms crossed, and one of his mechanical foot paws tapped the metal surface of the floor with impatience. "So, how does this information help us? From what I see so far, we only have a few guesses and some pieces of questionable evidence. And I believe that that's not enough to justify some type of world-wide treason."

"Then you're in for some luck, Jargo." Hanowitz smiled. "Before we were locked out of the basatin database, our deep treasure hunt found some interesting info about their so called 'logistics' they've been shoving out the past few months. I'll give you a detailed report once you get settled back into that fort in the sky, but for now, a brief summary will give you a general idea of what's going on." The general let out a nasty, phlegmy cough which left a foul taste in their mouths. He pardoned himself after hacking up a wad on the floor, which sent twisted faces of disgust throughout the crowd. "Downsides of gettin' old." He muttered. "Anyway, we've found that the basatins have been shipping a vast amount of material out into the middle of no-mans land in the wastes, and as far as we know, they don't have any installations out there, at least none that we are aware of. So what they are doing with these weapons is unclear but – "

"But, that's where you need us to intervene." The captain interrupted him.

"Exactly." The general nodded. "Like I said earlier, all of the details will be uploaded as soon as you're ready to go." He stared at Cain, attempting to draw an answer out of him. "Captain?"

Cain looked back at the small huddle of people behind him, and in return, he received determined expressions, letting him know that they are ready to serve their superior in charge. Cain turned and faced the general again with a slight crack of a grin.

"I think we're ready, General."

"I'll take your word, soldier." He saluted the man who, likewise, did the same. "I just have one final comment, about your ship. Its old stealth subsystems have been revamped, so now there shouldn't be any way for them to breach it. Guaranteed." Together, the captain and his crew boarded the empty vessel and for most of them, they felt some sort of a void being filled inside of them, as if this ship was where they were meant to be. Hastily, each member went to the comforts of their own station and settled in, doing brief sweeps of their systems to ensure that everything was in check, despite the fact that the mechanics have already performed test runs threefold before the ship was deemed safe again. On the bridge, John already sat restfully in his chair, not skipping a beat, while Sophia and the captain stood near his commanding terminal where Hanowitz stated that the mission specs would reside.

"Shall I open the file, Captain?" The vixen raised up her head towards him and waved her tail with a slow but anxious pace.

Cain nodded, and the fox reached over and pressed a few buttons on the monitor to open up a screen that provided a structured report that summarized the speech that Sebastian and the general conducted a few minutes ago, along with a formal document that contained every bit of detail that one would need to know about what exactly the basatins were shipping out of their country. Both were surprised at the amount and variety of the goods, which included sophisticated weaponry ranging from small arms rifles and anti-armor missiles, to full out battalions of transport vehicles, LAV's and even some tanks, albeit some were slightly outdated. Even then, they also provided medical equipment, food and other basic goods that would be able to keep a soldier up and running, and alongside the endless amount of paragraphs was a shallow list of objectives for them to complete. The two of them read what the council needed for them to do and quickly, Cain relayed this information to the rest of the crew.

"The goals here are short and sweet." Cain readied up the intercom. "I have read over the mission specs, and the basatins have been doing some shady business as of late. The sensitive documents that Sebastian and the agencies obtained contained records of outsourced goods that they've been shipping over the past few months, and to say the least, it's not looking too good in their favor. Weapons and survival supplies are believed to be transported to a remote location in the Drylands where an old pre-catalyst base used to exist. So, in short, we go in, take a few pretty pictures for the camera for evidence, and then destroy whatever is there if it's deemed fit."

The message went throughout the Concord and at this stage, they were almost prepared for takeoff. Sophia returned to her desk to assert her position, while Cain got in touch with William in the belly of the ship to establish that the core was stable enough to fly. After a few tests on the engineer's end, he gave the captain a thumbs up as a sign that the ship was at its peak performance. Just as about he was going to give the word for John to liftoff, he heard the sounds of muffled bickering coming from far down the hallway behind him, and he turned his body to see Sara'Zoe and Sebastian quite a ways down by the intersection near the living quarters, too far for him to distinguish what they were saying. It was obvious the two of them were fighting over something, as he could hear the stress emitting from their raised voices.

"It still wasn't a viable action, Sebastian." Sara'Zoe scoffed at his brutish methods and for misusing his power as an ex-military man. "Using your former status to breach into the heart of security of your own home is very, disturbing and untrustworthy. How do I know, or we know as a matter of fact, that you didn't use this power as an advantage over those who are helpless?"

The basatin gritted his teeth and refused to retain eye contact with the woman. Instead he looked beyond her shoulder and spat at her ridiculous accusations that only stood the fur on his body in frustration, but he refrained himself from getting personal. "Using sensitive information as an advantage isn't an uncommon practice on this side of the world. Perhaps you should read up on the definition of sabotage before you start spouting all of these allegations against me." He then rolled his head and gave her a distasteful stare. "And before you brand me as some sort of conniving broker, you should remember that I'm trying to fight for my people, not steal everything that they've worked for. So, before you get all hot-headed on me, take a deep breath and think about what your about to say; unless you have a case of memory loss, then I won't be able to help you there. Instead I'll feel a little bit of pity."

Sara'Zoe's eyes widened a bit at the slightest hint of his insult and felt a bit of warmth in her cheeks, trying her best not to lash out at him. "Are you implying that I have a brain dysfunction?"

He crossed his arms and held a sarcastic tone. "Maybe. I only mentioned what I'm trying to personally achieve only several times by now, so I can only assume that either you weren't listening, or there is something going on in that head of yours."

"H-h-how dare you!" Her jaw was agape from his smooth-spoken aspersion. "If you were in erusia, you would face severe punishment for blatantly insulting me!"

"Well then," Sebastian smiled knowing that this predicament was swaying in his favor. "luckily we're not there right now, so I guess your words of punishment are nothing more than just mere talk and no bite."

He continued to smile knowing that there wasn't much more for her to counterargue with, and he could sense the heat coming from her as her face had the slightest shade of red in it. Hearing one last infuriating breath coming from that general direction, she huffed in defeat and squinted her eyes at him before parting towards the living quarters, where he assumed she was going to remain until she cooled off. After a few minutes, he propped off of the wall and walked towards the bridge, passing by the weapons division who looked on, since they heard bits and pieces of their verbal scuffle. Ignoring their stares, he planted his feet next to the occupied captain's chair who, he too gave a concerned look. Just as Cain was about to question the argument, the basatin gave a sighing answer with an all too familiar feeling that encroached the males of any species.

"Women."

Without further words, Cain closed his mouth and focused instead on getting the ship in the air once again, where it belonged. He gave the young aspiring pilot the okay to depart, and the human gleefully radioed the control platform, asking if the skies were clear and if takeoff was permissible. After a few seconds of silence, his request was granted, and John wasted no time engaging the vertical thrusters that bellowed well beneath their feet. A small gleam of sunlight appeared over head as the hangar doors roared open like the mouth of a dragon, and soon the entire bridge was a tad bit more brighter, signifying that they were fully ajar and spared enough room for them to slip through.

The Concord hovered past the metal slabs at a slow pace and continued to rise above the city, gradually picking up speed until they were in the designated safe zone altitude of at least a half of a mile, where the heavy thrusters were guaranteed not to cause any damage to the structures below if they were set to full blast. Those on the ground stopped what they were doing, and looked on at the mere dot in the sky, wondering what mission or task lies ahead of them. The hovering ship then yawed its nose in the direction of the Drylands and from here, John set the rear of the ship ablaze and pitched its front upward towards the sky so they could gain more height in preparation for the jump drive. Now in position, the pilot waited for orders and hovered his hand over one of the digital buttons on the console. Cain gave him the word, and he smacked his palm onto the hardened glass pedestal in which the button then disappeared and shortly after, the Concord shook ever so slightly, quickly gaining speed as the clouds began to zip by them and the blue bubble began to make its presence around the massive fuselage. From here, there journey to the wastes will only take a few minutes, which meant the captain had no time to relax, but instead had to gather up his gear and the rest of the squad.

Sebastian was already nearby, and the other two were still mia, but the basatin had an idea as to the whereabouts of the erusian ever since she left after their little confrontation. The captain insisted on not wasting anytime going on a scavenger hunt, but instead he established a private connection to both Jargo's and Sara'Zoe's hologear, and called them up to the bridge as soon as they could. By now, the Concord would arrive very shortly, but John ensured they would have plenty of time to ready themselves since he directed the ship to come out of jump drive a couple dozen miles from their intended location to establish a small reconnaissance run before hot dropping them into unknown territory. The ship was well on its way, but Sophia picked up an odd transmission that was forcing its way into their servers and its signature was of one that the computer didn't recognize.

"Unknown message incoming, Captain. It is heavily encrypted, so I can't determine its origin."

He had no time to deal with the broadcast, and ushered her to simply ignore it. "Save it for later, Sophia. We're almost at the location."

"No can do, sir. The signal is going through on its own. I can't stop it." The fox played around with the keys on her keyboard, but her efforts had no effect on the impending outcome, and before Cain could rally her statement, the message patched through and a distinctly realistic, but knowingly holographic, image of a man wearing a mask, covering the entirety of his face, appeared on the glass above the pilot. This entity was unfamiliar to all of them, and at first sight they were intrigued, to say the least, about their invasive guest, but they had a feeling that whoever this was, was not a bearer of good news. The masked man was standing straight with his arms formally held behind his back like a formal businessman, and the holes for where his eyes should be were under a dark shadow initially, until they suddenly snapped open to reveal a heavy set of dark brown iris' that weighed down upon all who occupied the bridge. Behind the man was an immaculate blue, spherical light that pulsated infrequently and shrouded him in a layer of near black from its overwhelming intensity, that only added another mystified piece to the puzzle. His crystal clear image showed a strong and resilient physique which was only bolstered by his monochrome, dark gray fatigues and what appeared to be an old, outdated kevlar armored vest. Cain, undaunted by the mysterious figure, gritted his teeth and fought back the man's ominous stare with his own prevalent fix, giving him a taste of what's to come for intruding them.

"Who are you? And how did you get on this frequency?"

"Cain." The man called him in a low, slightly muffled, drawn out voice. "It pains me to see that you are still alive and well. That's going to have to change from this point forward."

The captain's eyes shot open for a mere second at the fact that he knew who he was, and then they quickly returned back to their equilibrium state, resting themselves upon the masked gaze. "How do you know me?"

"I have been watching you Cain. Your command has reached far above what I expected, and I had a feeling you would have pulled a few tricks to weave yourself from my grasp. But I assure you, our next confrontation will prove to be fatal for you. I will make sure of that."

"Why are you even here? What is the point of this conversation if you're only out to get me?" Cain waved his arms about, trying to make sense of his revealing. Being so caught up with this menacing individual, he didn't notice until now that Sara'Zoe and Jargo finally arrived on the bridge, pondering cautiously at the man's portending words.

"To get a better understanding of your enemy you must know them on a personal level. And from observing you and your crew, I know how much of a threat you really can become."

The captain then pointed at the man. "Well, whoever you are, you don't scare me, and whatever you're trying to prove, it won't work."

"Such noble words coming from such an ignorant soldier." His holographic picture shrunk, while the blue light in the background remained unchanged, and then floated down from the windshield onto the bridge floor below, in an act that defied all logic. Cain and his companions stepped back and readied themselves, not knowing if he could physically harm them at this point since he had the ability to control the ship's imaging processor. Landing in front of the four of them, his boots surprisingly thumped when they made contact, and he continued his talk without missing a beat.

"The regime has set its sights on the world, Cain. From the Isles, to Ania and the UKE, and even the mighty empire." He shifted his eyes towards the erusian, who bit her lip and scrunched her nose in an aggressive fashion. "The White Hand is merely just the proverbial foot in the door." He looked back towards the captain. "Installation 544, you remember, the catalyst facility, was only a staple for what is to come, and yet I second guess your nature as a leader now that I think about it."

He paused for a brief moment to let the captain take a few guesses as to what he was referencing, but his mind came up blank for the meantime and the masked man decided to remind him of an occurrence in the past that only he regretted.

"How could you let your brother die? Your own flesh and blood?"

The scrunching of the captain's face and his distressful gasp proved to the man that his mind still lingered one that fateful day, and that he wasn't able to let go of the fact that due to his carelessness, he lost someone dear and close. Cain's eye twitched briefly, and he attempted to slice at the man with his energy blade after releasing his pain in a bellowed yell of a sentence, only to realize that his weapon only phased through the man, and left him unharmed with a slight smirk secretly growing behind the white obstruction on his face.

"You don't know anything! He only died because he sacrificed himself to stop maniacs like you!"

"No." He responded. "Your sibling perished because of your judgment, and his 'glorified' death only caused a chain of minor setbacks, nothing more. He hasn't changed anything. We are still running strong, and I only hope for the sake of your ship-mates that you won't slip up again, or else they will share the same fate as he did, buried in the sands where he belongs."

Just as Cain was about to lose it, Sara'Zoe grabbed hold of his waist to prevent him from diving on top of the demented stranger, knowing that his efforts would only be meaningless, and spoke out to justify his actions from the past and to hopefully remedy him in the process.

"I know for a fact that Cain is phenomenal at what he does, and the thwarting of your desperate attempt to assassinate the council supports that in every way." She still held on tightly as Cain attempted to wiggle his way out of her grasp to choke the man who spat on his deceased family member. "And I know that he will lead us onward to eliminate your sorry excuse of a revolutionary faction."

In rebuttal, the masked man paced himself towards the enraged captain and stared into his eyes with his own cold, glass spheres, sensing a hint of uncontrollable hatred before leaning back and speaking out again.

"As great of a man you say he is, all I see is someone blinded by anger. Certainly not an aspect of a leader that I would praise. Nevertheless, he will be tested in the little excursion you have set yourselves upon. Stopping us will be a near impossible task."

"We'll see how you like it when we send a few dozen of your own to your front door. A personal gift, from us." Jargo curled his fists and snarled with a little droplet of spit dripping off of the side of his mouth.

"Jargo Finch." He slowed the tempo of his speech at the saying of his name, spitting it out like a chewed up piece of grizzle. "Killing off your family was satisfactory. It's a shame that I didn't send their remains to you. Nevertheless, it'll take more than the deaths of a small handful of my troops to sway me, but the blood of yours will spill until the oceans turn red."

"You're the bastard that murdered them?!" The wolf growled and the tips of his fangs showed through his parted mouth.

"Indirectly. Your interference in my operations was becoming a nuisance, and I had no choice but to put a stop to you. And seeing as how you escaped death, I sent you a scarring message to ward you away from fighting again. But seeing you here, I realize now that you have almost nothing left to fight for, and what you are involved with presently is only a suicidal mission led by an uncontrollable captain."

"I'll kill you! I'll kill every last one of you!"

"A flea that will only be flicked away and smashed. Your threats means nothing." The masked man spread his arms from his sides in an angelic pose and floated back up to where he originally was on the reinforced glass where the blinding ball of light shaded him again in a matte layer of black. "I've enjoyed this little exchange we had. And know this. This is only the beginning. The regime has made itself known, and soon the world will be rightfully ours once again." He soon faded out, and the signal was lost. Sophia acted on instinct and jumped her fingers onto the touch screen in attempt to track where the transmission originated.

Meanwhile, Cain ripped the hands of the erusian from his stomach in a bout of anger, and went to his own console with heavy footsteps and demanded the vixen to patch a line to Hanowitz.

"In a moment, sir. I'm trying to track down where the message came from."

"Tell one of your subordinates to do it then." His patience was running thin.

She did as she was told and ordered a female human to suffice his demands in which she did rapidly, and opened up a line between the two military veterans after a momentary grace period. Where the mysterious man once stood was now the promising portrait of an old friend in his usual officer wears, who initially noticed the small stretching of a frown on the captains face, coupled with a trace of fire in his beady eyes. The general expressed his concern over the unexpected call since they were on an ongoing mission and as such, he had a reason to worry and expected the worst.

"Cain. Why are you reaching out so early? Did something go wrong?"

"Not exactly." The humans crossed his arms and retained his serious expression.

"Well then speak up soldier!"

"We've had a strange encounter with someone who forced their transmission onto our servers. We don't know how, but he did. He had some disturbing things to say, which is why I'm not a happy camper at the moment." The Concord rumbled as they approached out of jump drive, which caused him to speed up the pace of this exchange. "I guess one of the good things that came out of it is that he has ties with the White Hand and even more so, and may have connections with the missing people."

Hanowitz perked up his brows in curiosity. "What do you mean by that?"

Cain shook his head. "I don't know, but we have the conversation recorded. I could send over a copy so you can listen and see what you think about it."

"That'll work. But do you intend on continuing the mission?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"If this person can tap into your network, than they most likely know where you're headed. But I can't tell you what to do at this point, after all, it's your ship and it's your call, Captain."

Without giving it too much thought, Cain decided that this mission was worth too much to give up on. With the combined efforts of his squad and the supportive efforts of the Concord, his chance for success outweighed the risks. "We're going through with it. Evidence like this is something we can't afford to pass on."

The general nodded in approval. "Very well, Cain. I wish you and your crew good luck. Just try not to get your ass killed out there." He saluted and ended the connection with a final sarcastic smile.

With the touch of a finger, the console returned to idle mode, and now Cain focused his attention on getting his squad and himself ready for touchdown. He walked over to his three companions and patted them down with a small debriefing to verify that they were all set to head out, but Sara'Zoe still sensed some venting frustration, and used what little time they had wisely to make sure that his head was still in the game.

"Cain, is everything okay?"

"There's no time for twenty questions, Sara'Zoe. We need to get ready."

"Cain!" She repeated. But this time it was more of a worried yelp rather than a frustrated shout due to his thickheadedness, and she locked her dazzling eyes with his own to enforce her caring tone.

He gazed upon the beauty of her iris' and eventually got the message, and made the choice of not causing any more stress than there already was by arguing.

"I'll...be fine." Looking away, he turned back on track to the mission ahead of them. "John's gonna sweep around the perimeter of the location to see if he can get a good bearing as to what's really out here. From then on, we can plan to go about this as easily as possible depending on what we find."

The Concord has been cruising out of jump drive for a few minutes now, with its stealth fully active, and it has kept itself a safe distance from the target coordinates, while Sophia tapped into one of the high resolution ocular cameras that hung from the belly of the ship to see if she could get a visual of whatever was lurking. Although the Dryland's dusty winds made it difficult for her to see, after a few careful and precise adjustments to the lens, she could make out the the shadowy formations of a lonesome base. Keeping her mouth quiet for now since it was possible that this was still an old wreckage from the catalyst facility, she played around with the filters to remove any unnecessary noise until she found exactly what she was hoping to find. Activity. She pointed out that she has found something, and swept the real time footage to the main bridge display that showed a relatively large base with complete evidence that there is some questionable movement occurring. As the ship circled around the facility, they were able to identify several key points of interest with the most notable being the four warehouses that rested along the outer perimeter walls, enclosing whatever was inside, along with a few rows of unknown objects kept hidden under tarps that were anchored to ground just outside of said hangars. This made things slightly more difficult, since now they were forced to go on foot to see exactly what those buildings were hiding, and who was occupying this area so far from civilization, although most of the crew suspected the White Hand since this was their territory, but they couldn't be exactly sure. The only way inside, from what they've seen so far, was an old faded dirt road that passed by two occupied guard towers that then ran through the center of the base and exited by another pair of towers on the other side, making a secretive entrance risky, but still possible.

As the Concord made its final rounds, Cain and the others waited by one of the exits near the weapon station, geared out and ready to move. John positioned the ship until it was about a thousand meters out from the entry point of the base, and lowered it in a vertical descent until it was a safe distance for them to safely jump out onto the ground. Before the doors were opened, the captain ran over their course of action one last time.

"Okay, so Sara'Zoe and I will keep us under invisibility until we can sneak by the guard towers. Once we get through, you know what to do Sebastian." He eyed the basatin, who only nodded while securely placing his rifle behind his back. The doors shot open, signaling there time to go.

"Let's move!" Cain cloaked himself and took the lead with Jargo right behind and Sara'Zoe following close by who provided invisibility for her and the wolf. They jumped from the ship one by one, where Sebastian guarded from the rear with his rifle now gripped in his hands and the belt providing the stealth he needs to move about undetected. All weapons readied, the Concord lifted into the skies once more, and the four of them followed the dirt road towards the base, where the hazy outlines of the towers could be seen in the distance.

As they moved forward, Cain looked at the desolate wastes that surrounded them, and he was surprised as to how barren this area has become, all due to one catalyst missile explosion. Reminded by the burdens of war, he separated himself mentally from the others briefly, and filled his eyes with a foul taste of how the animosity of people could have changed the world to look this a long time ago. He always wondered why there was such conflict between the non-erusian nations; such a waste of life and unnecessary hatred, all because there were some who looked different and were considered to be inferior because of it. Learning about the acts of the Templar when he was schooled only made him want to regret being human, but he knew it was something of the past that he couldn't change, and could only be asked for forgiveness by his ancestors. It was a history that the future should have looked back upon, and although things have appeared to be peachy keen as of late, there are those who have forgotten about the past and have only made a round way trip all the way back to square one, namely the White Hand. He spat once more when he reveled at the knowledge that the great nations have possessed many of these catalyst type weapons at one point, and was thankful that none of them were put to use, but instead were disarmed, or so they say.

The entrance to the base was only a few hundred meters away, and Cain slipped back into reality when he heard the voice of a very informative vixen.

'Captain, yours and the others holo-gear will be updated regularly so you can keep tabs on enemy movement to ensure a smooth execution of the operation. We will do our best to account for every nook and cranny, and as long as we can see them up here, so can you.'

'Good to know Sophia'

'Why won't you all give it a try? You should be able to see the patrols on the guard towers up ahead. They'll appear as little red pings on the contour map that the holo-gear forms.'

Mid-speech, the four of them ducked behind some roadside boulders and raised their arms in close proximity of their faces, and with a miniscule amount of concentration, the specifically placed devices lit up and projected a small holographic map of the surrounding area. At the far end of the map, just straight ahead, the device imaged out the two guard towers along with the notable red dots that pulsated over its location, giving them full awareness of exactly where the enemy was.

"It's amazing what they can come up with nowadays." Jargo admired the fancy piece of equipment.

After the test run, Sebastian set up his rifle on a flat piece of the rocks top surface, and rested the bipod so that he could get a stable bead on the guards through the scope. Waving his hand at Sara'Zoe, she complied and scuttled over to where he was, closer to the rock, and looked into the magnified lens after he made a few adjustments. Looking down the sights, she saw the trooper in its nest, scouring the desert sands like a hungry vulture lurking for a meal. Sebastian leaned over and whispered into the erusian's ear.

"Think you can make me look one of them?"

She observed their attire; lightly armored dusters wrapped over brown camoed fatigues that bared the mark of a white hand print, along with a pair of goggles that were presumed to give them the ability to see in such an occasion where dust storms appear rather frequently. Getting a mental image was easy enough, and she then leaned back and left the rifle to its rightful owner, where she gave him a dignified nod that signified that changing him would be rather simple. Before she began any sort of casting, she relayed a piece of information that would satisfy one of their previous assumptions.

"Cain." She focused her attention to him. "The White Hand are here."

He acknowledged her confirmation, and delayed their operation no further. "Sara'Zoe disguise him as best you can. Then Sebastian will take post to provide for better cover fire and spot sweeps while the three of us traverse the complex."

The erusian emitted a dark red energy from her hands; much different from her typical radiance of bright colored spells, and the basatin felt slightly woozy from the passage of twisted energy that wrangle around the exterior of his body, forming an exact image from what she saw through the rifle scope. Sebastian looked down at his changed appearance with long armored sleeves now covering his arms and his face was smoothly covered in bare human skin, but strangely he felt that nothing has changed on the outside, with the tingling sensation of his fur as the strands dangled in the wind. Still under the influence of the invisibility spells, they moved out asap because of the fact that Sara'Zoe won't be able to sustain both spells indefinitely, as mighty as she may be.

As they got closer, more targets began to pop up on their holo-gear, and their eyes in the skies kept them up to date on the surroundings.

'An armored scout vehicle will be passing by the entrance in the next few seconds. I can't see too much farther into the base because of worsening conditions. For now, I'd use the dust storms as an advantage to move about unnoticed.' Sophia alerted them.

'Roger that.' He then turned his attention to his squad while continuously moving forward. 'Let's be quick about this and find a nice shady spot to hide in here. We need to preserve our energy just in case. Sebastian will provide for additional spotting once he gets into position.' Flicking his hand twice to his left, he signaled the basatin to split off from the team and do what needed to be done, while the rest of them sneaked into the base and passed the guard towers with ease after the small vehicle with a nested machine gun on its roof drove by. At first glimpse, the base was more occupied than they thought with multiple groups of gun wielding troops walking along each side of the road along with a few monstrous pieces of heavy tanks moving in and out of the makeshift side roads that split from the main traverse.

With haste, the three of them bared left to avoid the busy throughway and instead, headed for the cluttered rows of barracks' that provided for ideal coverage so that they could dismiss the use of the draining spells that kept them hidden in plain sight. Cain led them towards the nearest corner of the complex where the final barracks stood, and took ample note that the this section of the base was empty , most likely because the day was still young, where the most amount of protection was needed to guard them from any unwanted guests. Reaching the farthest building, they pinned themselves to the back walls and saw that luckily, the protective walls that surround the base were solid and not a flimsy chain link fence, which meant they had little to worry about being spotted from those patrolling the outer perimeter. Here, they waited for Sebastian to get in place and hoped that the storms will retain their howling presence as long as possible, to make the mission that much easier.

Sebastian casually climbed the exterior spiral staircase of the guard's post, being careful not to accidentally place his footing too rough, as the flooring and railing walls were made out of a flimsy metal that could create a lot of noise if it were disturbed. Reaching the top landing after a silent ascent, he was in the presence of the soldier manning the tower, who was looking about into the outskirts of the desert, unaware of the danger that was only a few feet away. The basatin kept his patience, and watched the soldier on the adjacent tower to sway his attention elsewhere before making his move and before long, the other guard turned his back towards him, making this the most ample opportunity to move in. He crept up on the man and took the time to ensure that no noise escaped from his foot paws, and grabbed hold of the soldier's mouth with his palm, stretching his neck in the process to expose the soft flesh so that his knife could easily cut through the arteries that supplied the body with precious blood. The soldier instinctively used his hands to try and remove whatever was covering his mouth while attempting to put pressure on the fatal wound, and suddenly lost his footing as Sebastian knocked his leg from under him and gently placed the human on the hot metal floor to keep him out of sight. Blood was gushing between the small gaps of the human's fingers, and Sebastian could feel heavy breath hitting against his palm as the soldier hyperventilated, darting his wide opened eyes in every direction.

The basatin deactivated his belt so that his adversary could witness the unfolding deception for his final glimpses of life, and the look on his panicked eyes as he saw an exact clone of himself grinning so demonically only made it that much more satisfying. The spurting through the seeping began to subside, and the soldier took his last breath before dying with his eyes opened, staring into the doppelganger that subdued him to the ground. After grabbing his latched rifle, Sebastian stood and looked around precariously to see if the small scuffle attracted any attention, but after a brief search it seemed that nobody noticed and locked eyes with the neighboring tower's occupant, giving him a nod as a supplemental greeting, which only secured his success as he nodded in return. Sebastian then came in contact with the captain to inform him of his current situation.

'Cain.'

'Talk to me Sebastian.'

'I'm in position. It all went about unnoticed.'

'Excellent. Be as vigilant as you can, and keep the holo-gear updated as much as possible. 'We are positioned at the far eastern side of the base by the barracks and am waiting to hear for the ok to move out.'

'Roger that. I won't let a single soldier slip by.'

Sebastian turned to face the inner complex and looked towards the direction that Cain has pointed out, and saw a few stretches of smaller buildings where they were supposedly hiding out. He retrieved a a small monocular from his pouch and scanned whatever visible rows that he could find, looking for any sort of enemy movement, but a careful search revealed no activity and Sebastian gave them the word that it was safe to go.

Cain and the others fizzled out of their protective invisibility spells, and gauged the distance to the warehouse ahead of him to be only a few hundred feet. From here, he signaled everyone to get low, and peeked around the corner of the building to allow passage to the next building over without being spotted. Luckily, this area was barren of any patrols and they swiftly shifted to the nearest wall in unison, tightly bracing their backs against the rusted sheet metal. A long, high pile of assorted scrap blocked them from dashing over to the next front, and now they were forced to traverse deeper into the complex, where a higher density of troops will certainly be found. Slowly, they paced themselves through the loose desert sand that quieted their footsteps, making their way towards the dirt road that divided the base in two.

As they continued down the path, a semi-tall concrete divider sprouted from the debris on their left, giving them ample coverage while the barracks' remained on the other side, guarding them from whoever may reside by the main entrance. The far side of the barrier held partially what they were looking for; a patch of tarped objects were spaced every several feet, and a quick peek revealed suspicious looking military wear, from tank treads to 6x6 vehicles with wheels nearly the size of an average human, but they couldn't be sure of what allegiance the heavy armor belonged to without ripping off the heavy coverings, and Cain knew that now might be the perfect time to get such evidence without having to expose themselves even more. The captain signaled for the others to stay while he moved forward to the other side of one of the covered vehicles. He pointed to one of the strings that bound the heavy cloth to the earth, and Jargo nodded in compliance and was about to utilize his sharpened metal claws to rip the nylon with ease, but a couple of ambient voices came into a much more clearer resolution and marked a nervous glare from the erusian.

The three of them darted their heads every which way to see where the voices were coming from, but Sebastian was able to alleviate the pressure somewhat when he informed them of two soldiers adjacent to the vehicle they were about to unveil.

'Two of them just came into sight and they are chatting up a storm. It seems that they are starting to remove the tarp that's covering it. Should make your job a lot easier.'

Relieved that the two unknowns were spotted, Cain clenched his fist near his chest, informing them to hold tight for the time being.

'Here's what we're gonna do. If luck is on our side, those two will be taking the thing out for a joyride meaning that at some point, they are going to have to reach back here to pull the final strings.'

Jargo smiled as he got the general idea of where this was all going. 'Right. They'll be in for one hell of a surprise.'

The voices came closer and the limited vision from their crouched positions only allowed them to see brief forced movement of the tarp as the soldiers released the rope one by one. What they were speaking of was irrelevant as their minds were focused on accomplishing the mission and be-lining it out of here as quick as possible. Within a few seconds they saw the hands grab hold onto the rope that was tied onto the concrete barrier, and the soldiers leaned over to remove the final pieces, only to be met face to face with three unfamiliar, but determined faces that grinned at their impending demise. Before they were able to shout out for assistance, Jargo and Cain reached over the barrier and grabbed the two soldiers by the softly armored collars and pulled them over to their side of the wall and slammed them into the soft ground, where Sara'Zoe was waiting with two powerful, but precise concussive blasts that smacked into their cores, instantly rendering them both unconscious. The wolf volunteered to move the bodies back to where they were beforehand by the far walls while Cain and Sara'Zoe made efficient use of their time by hopping over the wall and inspecting the armored IFV that was unclothed. A careful, but rapid inspection proceeded, and soon the erusian was able to find what they were searching for.

'A sword and shield. No doubt a part of basatin territory.' She rubbed the insignia that wad imprinted on the side of the hull.

Cain moved forward and saw the symbol himself, and utilized the holo-gear as instructed, and constructed a virtual camera that snapped a closeup of the symbol, along with a far shot that gave a clear view of both the hulking piece equipment along with Sara'Zoe adjacent to it to prove that the photo wasn't edited in any way.

"This is a start.' Cain deactivated the device. 'But we're going to need a lot more evidence than this. For all we know this could have been acquired on the black market."

"Indeed." She did the same. "But taking these apart one by one would be too time consuming. May I suggest we venture into the storage facilities over there?"

"Good idea." They both then turned after hearing the sound of metal scraping against concrete and saw the wolf propelling himself over the barrier with the push of his legs, landing carelessly as a small puff of smoke vented outward from his tremendous weight.

"I took care of the bodies and hid them as best I could."

Cain nodded and informed the wolf of their next step. "We're heading in to the warehouses now to see what they're hiding. Hopefully it'll be just as empty in there as it was before, and we should be able to sneak in and out easily due to its enclosed space." He gave him a more focused and serious stare. "And no more antics. That suit of yours will make a hell of a lot more noise in there than it has out here, so watch where you put those dinosaur feet."

Jargo gripped his gun tightly and rolled his shoulders as if readying himself for an athletic event. He switched over to the holo-comm, knowing that they would be moving in at any second. 'I'll be a good boy, Cain. But once the party starts, noise will be the last thing for me to worry about.'

The captain took the lead, and approached the front end of the armored vehicle, popping his head out ever so slightly to look for any signs of traffic. He could see a partially worn path in front of that ran from left to right with one way heading into the mouth of the warehouse, and the other eventually met with the main road, where he saw a large flatbed truck, carrying covered crates of most likely illegally obtained substances, turning in his direction. Darting his head back behind the safety of the IFV, he told the others to hang tight and to follow when he made the first advance. The two complied, and as the truck came closer, her warned Sebastian and the Concord that they will be heading inside the building, where all visuals on them will be cut off until they did a search of the vicinity.

As the truck passed by at a snail's pace, Cain seized the opportunity and ran out towards its rear, with the others close behind, and hopped onto the back of the bed where he opened up a small gap in the tarp and slipped under, after letting the two on board. It was tight between the crates, but it was manageable, and the light that shown through the small slits dimmed as they rode into the darkness of the storage building. There was an abundance of chatter, not something that they wanted to hear, but the vehicle continued deeper into the belly, and the voices soon dissipated into nothing but faint echoes. The whirring of the truck's tired engine seized and the hissing of its air brakes, signified that their free trip was over and that it was time to see what they where hiding here.

Cain got on his knees and lifted the tarp a few inches to view the layout of the structure's insides. Hearing the slam of the drivers side door, he retreated carefully until he heard the passing of heavy boots on a hardened floor, and then resumed the same activity until the tempoed footsteps subsided. Veering out again, he noticed that building was under low-light, perfect for getting around without being noticed too easily, and the tall metal housings spaced with largely gaped shelving, holding abundances of equipment, will surely be of assistance. Jargo tapped him on the back as the captain continued his recon.

'See anything interesting?'

'It's dark, and the place is lined with stuff stacked to the sky. I'd say it makes for the perfect atmosphere to do some stealth work.'

'Perfect.' The wolf grinned. 'I'll need all the help I can get, since this body of mine isn't exactly what you would call ninja material.'

Cain slipped under and out of the sheets after one final glance, and lifted them as gently as he could to let the others relieve themselves from the cramped space. He jumped from the bed first, followed by the light-footed erusian with Jargo covering the rear, who made sure this time not to stir up to much noise as he slowly lowered himself to the floor. Crouching low to the ground, they moved about the maze of storage shelves, taking quick peeks at their contents along the way. Gun's, ammunition, and basic survival supplies were amongst the stacks of endless crates, but it wasn't the big score that the captain was hoping for, so they proceeded onward.

As they traveled down the back aisle closest to the wall, Cain saw two workers rounding the corner from one of many perpendicular rows up ahead and, making sure not to move too quickly, they pinned themselves against one of the shelves that was in the closest aisle to them. The sounds of their boots got louder, and their fingers hugged against the trigger more tightly, but violence wasn't necessary since the workers turned down the lane just ahead of them. Now they waited for a few seconds for them to leave, but the walking ceased and several boxes were shifted and removed, mere feet above the crouched wolf's head, causing him to sweat bullets. The team listen carefully to their brief conversation, where they noted the mentioning of a certain precarious shipment of goods.

"The boss will be pleased to hear that we've gotten the big guns in just a couple of days ago."

"Yeah. No kidding. We'll give those furs and fur loving dogs a good ass kicking."

Their voices muffled in the distance as they hauled away the boxes, and Cain and the others moved out from their hiding place back into the rear aisle in search of the confirmed 'big guns' they were looking for. Sara'Zoe spoke on the comms with a little bit of distaste in her tone.

'Such prude and bitter people. I never understood the hatred between you humans and the keidran. It is a waste of sacred life.'

'Yeah, it wasn't pretty.' Jargo responded. 'But the stories I've heard from the queen weren't exactly peace loving and pro life.'

The erusian paused in thought for a few seconds as they slowly tread through the complex. She sounded much more saddened now that the wolf has brought up the past of of the empire; a past which she isn't typically fond of. 'That was before my time. What my ancestors have done was, questionable, but I am proud of what Erusia has become, even if it meant the destruction of countless others.'

'Hmm. So you promote violence then?'

'Only if it's deemed necessary.'

'But what about those that posed no threat? It seemed like the erusians had no problem conquering those who begged for mercy.'

'I...don't know what to tell you Jargo. What's done is done. I have no control over the past, and if I were queen long ago during our age of conquest, things would have been done differently.'

Cain has heard enough, and told them to cease bickering and to focus on the mission. Their thoughts simmered down, and the passage of time has lead them to the far wall where they saw entire lines of military vehicles organized by type, from tanks to light transport vehicles and self propelled artillery units. The group hid at the edge of the remaining shelf, and the increasing traffic of people anchored them there for now until a clearing could be seen. Thankfully, the wall of armor besides them cast a shadow that hid them from the ever prevalent sunlight that bathed the rows otherwise, giving them ample time to hold position without being seen.

A mechanic holding a clipboard, wrote down something on a piece of paper, where the squad only presumed they were taking inventory. After a confirming nod, the woman turned her back and walked up to the next vehicle and repeated the routine; a brief look, some scribbles, and a slight shake of the head. Cain used this tempo as an advantage, and signaled for Jargo to follow while Sara'Zoe stayed back as the woman turned her back once more, allowing them to cross the gap over to the other side where more military ware resided, parked against the wall. This gave them excellent coverage to allow for a small search to commence, but it was obvious to them that these vehicles were of basatin origin due to their time in the military, and either way, they needed physical evidence to put the wraps on their involvement in these scandalous activities. Again, the captain gave sufficient space to allow his holo-gear to take an appropriate picture of the artillery piece, making sure that the basatin insignia was well within view, and with a thought, the tool unexpectedly flashed to remove the impedance of darkness in order to get a clear image of the tank, causing those who were farther down the line of vehicles to question the sudden light that appeared in the corner.

Cain gulped as he heard the sounds of voices approaching their location to investigate. They were cornered with no place to run and hide. If he and Jargo were to retreat back to the erusian's position, they will surely be spotted and they will be in the direct line of fire, momentarily, as they closed the short distance. The captain knew that they still had the element of surprise, and he raised his shotgun for whoever comes into his line of sight. Sara'Zoe peeked at the two cornered soldiers and made a suggestion for escaping this predicament.

'Cain. I have an idea.'

'I'm listening.'

'The area in front of us is narrow. I can use one of my spells to force the air in like a funnel to knock them away.'

'Good idea. But that'll leave you vulnerable.'

'Do not worry about me. There is only the problem of them flanking us from the rear as we advance.'

The captain looked towards the aisle that they came from that traced the rear of the facility, and saw that there were many places for them maneuver around, just like how they were able to. Quickly thinking as he heard the voices became more distinct, a plan unfolded in his mind when he set his stare on the tall, but flimsy looking shelves like those he has seen in well established department stores, knowing that a sufficient amount horizontal force along its longer sides will cause them to easily tip.

He gave the erusian the permission she needed to execute her move, and she readied a small whirlwind in her hand that caused both the human's and wolf's ears to pop from the sudden change in room pressurization. She darted out from her spot and was faced with over a dozen armed soldiers whose iron sites were aimed precisely where she stood, but her lack of hesitation still caught them off guard, and her torrent of wailing winds knocked most of the weapons from their hands and their bodies were pushed through the air, slamming into the pieces of solid metal and scattering onto the floor. Without missing a beat, Cain concentrated his mana on a powerful telekinetic spell that caused the metal shelving to buckle under the immense force and with a push of his arm, the twisted piece fell forward and its contents knocked into the adjacent shelf which carried enough momentum to produce the same effect, knocking the rest of the shelves over like dominoes.

The sounds of breaking wood and deforming metal were loud enough to warrant the attention of the entire base, but them getting spotted would have resulted in that anyways. With their flanks secured, Cain and Jargo moved towards the front lines, keeping the erusian behind for her supportive role. The soldiers that were blasted away laid unconscious, but ahead they saw more of them pouring in , forcing them to dodge between the gaps of the vehicles as multiple fireballs seared by, slamming into the wall behind them.

Sirens soon blared, telling them that they had to move fast before they were surrounded, but the screeching sound of passing suppressive fire kept them anchored where they were. Jargo twisted his head to talk to the erusian while keeping his body facing forward with assault rifle aimed towards the floor, out of harms way from the captain.

"Hey, Sara'Zoe. Think you can cover me in those shields like the ones back at the council hall?"

Her eyes flickered back and forth as she seeped into her memory banks, and nodded as the thoughts began to recollect. "Yes. What exactly are you thinking?"

Cain listened in on their conversation and repeated the same question in concern. "Just what are planning to do, Jargo?"

"Doing what I do best." He let go of his rifle with his trigger arm, holding it upright with the other, and held it up level so that everyone can see as a small nozzle shaped apparatus rose from the mechanisms that drove his forearm. "Let me take point this time. I'll become your personal brick wall."

The captain locked eyes with his furry partner and gave him a firm look, but the sincere expression in his face was enough to invoke his trust and he motion his head forward to let the wolf go on ahead. A thin layer of green, transparent film covered Jargo's plated body, and he faced the erusian one more time as she finished holding her hand out in his direction, finishing the casting of the spell.

"I won't be able to hold it for too long if you come under intense fire." She rested her arm at her side. "Remember, I'm still conducting the illusion spell for Sebastian, and I don't want to drain myself too much after this engagement is over. So I'll warn you as soon as I"m about to drop it."

"Thanks for the heads up." The wolf switched positions with the captain, and now he was nearly face first to the steady stream of bullets and only grinned at the familiar sounds of their deathly whirls. He rounded the corner with his arm directed towards the front after informing the others, and dove head on into the line of fire without taking the time to look to see who and where the enemy was, and unloaded a stream of white flame into the narrow passageway, making those who were in or near the howling heat retreat with bellowing screams and burning armor. Jargo kept the flame alight and continued forward as flying pieces of of metal bounced off of the shield with Cain and Sara'Zoe following neck and neck from behind.

A hurling ball of energy came through the flame with a rapid pace and a low hum, and smacked into the wolf with great force, forcing the human and the erusian to hide there faces briefly. Although the wolf had to cease fire in order to regain composure, he was otherwise unharmed thanks to the protective spell that shined prevalently. Distracted by his own recovery, he felt a tug on his arm and a yell from the captain to haul his ass into cover, and for good reason. A light, armored recon vehicle barreled through the entrance with its roof mounted machine gun firing heavy rounds that concussed with a deepened bang, hitting the wolf with two shots that pounded his shield, piercing it and lodging themselves into his chest.

The wolf activated his shoulder rocket and tumbled immediately into cover afterward, and the missile banked off course, exploding into the vehicle's front right tire causing the entire body to rock violently and shards of metal flying in every direction in a balls of fire. It screeched to a halt near the beginning of the lines of armor and laid down more gunshots while the wolf crawled deeper behind a tank with the others.

The burning holes of plastered metal sizzled with smoke, and the wolf sat up against the treads of the tank, slightly short of breath while his shoulder weapon retreated back into its compartment. Sara'Zoe knelt beside him with a worried look as she saw his pained expression.

"Jargo! Are you injured?"

He shook his head and rose to his paws, firmly gripping his gun that he left on the floor beside his fallen body. "I'm good. Just a little scratch that can be buffed out later."

Cain, relieved that his squad mate was unharmed, now focused on the issue of the disabled scout car that conveniently parked itself in the way of their only escape path. It would be too dangerous for them to double back since they made decent progress moving forward, and their retreat would only set them back even further. He figured that a distraction of some sort would buy them enough time to advance forward and to ideally take out the nested obstruction simultaneously. Out of curiosity, he contacted Sebastian who was still posted relatively out of harm's way on the guard tower.

'Hey, Sebastian.' He calmly thought.

'You are causing quite the shitstorm down there, Stryker.' He looked down his rifle scope to see the scattering ant colony of soldiers who were gathering along the main causeway, hustling towards the warehouse where the others were trapped. 'You've got more troops incoming. A couple dozen of them at least.'

'That's good to hear.' Sarcasm strummed in his ethereal voice. 'But we have another issue. A light tactical vehicle pinned us down, and we can't go on any further until it's destroyed. You got anything that can get rid of it?'

'Cain, I have something for every occasion. I just need to get a good bead on him to take the shot.'

'But what about your cover?'

Sebastian looked over his shoulder to the adjacent tower, where the sniper slumped against one of the walls with a bullet gone clean through his chest, and an appropriate spray of blood along the rusty metal to compliment it.

'Already taken care of.' His head returned to its normal position.

'Let me see if I can figure out a way to give you an exact location then.'

After a short delay, Sophia interrupted his thought process and gave him another piece of healthy information. 'Perhaps this will be of some use, Captain.' She heard the continuous streams of gunfire and shouts of the enclosing enemy and hurried to explain the purpose behind her statement. 'Your holo-gear can 'paint' targets with a thin, but powerful laser beam, and the infrared signature it gives off should be strong enough for Sebastian to pick up with his scope.'

'Excellent, Sophia.' He revered her bounties of information.

'Also,' She continued. 'that same beam communicates with the sensory equipment associated with Seth's weaponry through means of a distinct frequency, so if you ever need a specific target taken out with extreme precision, or if our sensors are jammed or our visuals are disrupted as they are now, you can utilize that feature to bring us back in the fight.'

Again, he commended her for the advice and sought to apply them as hasty as possible, but there was the issue of exposing oneself while directing the beam at the intended target. Sara'Zoe noted his state of mentation and thought up a suggestion of her own, while listening in on the conversation, to open up a path for their potential escape.

"Cain, let me go." She said with confidence. "I'll distract them while you assist Sebastian."

The captain exchanged a trustworthy look with her as he recalled the ferocity of her strength during their practice bout, but there was a small part of his mind that made him worry over the amount of potential firepower that could possibly overwhelm even someone of her stature. Nevertheless, he let her do as she pleased and hoped he hadn't just thrown her into a pool of hungry piranhas, but as she was about to proceed, the basatin called out to her with a useful message that will surely make things smoother for her.

'Erusian. Release me from this spell.' He demanded. 'I have no use for it right now.'

'I have a name you know!' She became infuriated from his lack of politeness. 'And I demand you to honor it appropriately!' Her mind changed course as she realized Sebastian was forcing her attention elsewhere. 'Actually, never mind that. I have more important issues to attend to than arguing with a stuck-up flea ball.'

The spell bestowed upon the basatin ceased, and now she felt the full surge of power seeping back into her body. With an expressionless face, she didn't look back at the other two, and she bravely levitated onto the turret of the hulking tank, landing gracefully like a well trained dancer. The White Hand soldiers paid little notice to her at first, but the sudden continuous beam of light that shined from her fingertips caught it rather quickly as the thin sheen panned in a cone in front of her, cutting a few of them who were too slow to react and striking the car clear across its hood, creating a hot red crevice that burst into small flames as the temperature reached beyond the flash point. Those who were lucky enough ducked behind cover from the sweeping light, and the roof mounted gun ceased firing until it bared its barrel onto the erusian with a low hum of its rotating base, and continued its pounding of high caliber rounds.

At the sight of the moving turret, Sara'Zoe cut off the flow of mana to her fingers and focused on creating a heavily induced mana barrier, knowing that those in hiding will eventually reveal themselves to fire everything in their arsenal at her. The incoming shots from the scout car clashed with the repelling energy of her shield, emitting a crackling thunder as the chunks of metal deformed themselves into the shapes of flattened plateaus, harmlessly dropping onto the tank hull and bouncing playfully along the armored plates onto the dirt below. And just as she expected, the soldiers cowering behind cover veered out and unloaded the weapons and offensive spells upon her, but their attacks too suffered the same fate as their armored companion.

Cain looked up in amazement as he saw the erusian standing motionlessly with an expressionless look on her face; a true sign of concentration and confidence of her capabilities on her end while deadly sparks of lightning and shards of ice absorbed into the shield without a single hint of fear crossing her mind and unphased eyes. Gazing no longer at the awe-inspiring spellcaster, he readied his holo-gear in advance with the laser Sophia mentioned earlier, and boldly slipped out from behind the treads and aimed his arm at the still engaging turret.

Meanwhile, Sebastian remained stationed at the guard tower until the signal was given by his superior, and in the meantime he released the magazine currently loaded into his rifle, putting it into one of the many pockets sewn into his vest, and cocked the bolt back which flung the remaining, chambered bullet off to the side where he caught it with his free hand, storing it in the same pocket with the magazine. Next, he reached into a separate pouch that contained another magazine, but this one was loaded with bullets that were painted with explosive orange tips. He smiled at the sight of them as if they were the god's blessings and spoke to himself in a satisfying tone.

"Government spending at its finest. This is one of the few things I can thank them for."

Loading the moderately heavy magazine into the gun, he pulled back on the bolt once more to ready the first round into the loaded chamber, and rested the barrel on top of the metal walls while kneeling to retain a low profile and peeking through the scope towards the hangar where his squad was located. Now, he just waited for the word.

Only a few seconds have passed, and Sebastian heard the orders over the comms that the beam was set.

'Sebastian. It's in position, but I don't how long it's gonna take until they notice me. Make your shots count.'

The basatin switched his scope into infrared mode with the flick of a switch, and saw the beam with a concentrated endpoint that formed a dense ball of red on the display. Making minor adjustment with the positioning of his gun, he lined up the sights just a few hairs above the red dot to compensate from gravitational effects, and gently squeezed the trigger before saying, 'I always make my mark, Captain.'

A large shockwave pulsed from the tip of the barrel as the gills along its sides released the heated fumes from the reaction that took place inside the chamber's mechanism. The large bullet pierced the air with speed many times the sound barrier and it careened into the shell of the hangar, easily piercing its walls if it were felt, hitting the base of the scout car's automated turret and exploding as soon as it stabbed itself a few inches into its relatively thin plates, sending shrapnel in every direction. Those near, the mangled mess of a car were tossed aside and the heat of the fireball sent others ducking for their lives, ceasing the fire that encased the erusian in hundreds of bullets.

The enemy's temporary retreat left an ample opportunity for them to move forward, where Cain tapped the armored shoulder of his adjacent companion and signaled to move forward. They both darted from the safety of cover and hustled out into the open, checking each gap for stragglers that could have stealthfully move past their fields of limited vision, and seeing as how there were none to be found, they split off where the twisted remains of the car were into the partitions where they knew soldiers were hiding; the human veered to the left while the wolf covered the opposite side. Cain saw several armored men squatting and kneeling in the sand, and his unexpected blitz caught them all off guard. He stuck close to the inside of the turn in order to line up the soldiers in a perfect linear fashion so that he wouldn't be sprayed with gunfire from every direction, and he unloaded his first shell into the center of mass of the unfortunate trooper, leaving a gaping wound where his chest used to be.

The others behind watched their comrade fall, and Cain left no from for quarter as he closed the distance, unloading another burst from his gun after pumping another round into the chamber. The second one dropped, spinning slightly from the overpowering force of the pellets, and the two that were left raised their guns, firing them wildly in fully automatic in hopes of gunning down the assaulting predator.

Cain's shield protected him from the hail of flying metal, but he had little time to rearm his shotgun in such close quarters and as such, he had to rely on his mana blades. Using his trigger arm, he let go of the grip and extended his ethereal blades, and all the meanwhile he blinked the remaining few feet and shoved the blade straight through the man's throat, causing him to drop his weapon as his arms went limp from instant death. The slitting sound from the retraction of his arm from the wide eyed corpse, sent shivers down the remaining one's spine followed by a gasp as the captain utilized his extended arm to lift the body as a secondary shield using telekinesis, flinging it with with great speed with the push of the hand towards him, causing both of them to slam into the collapsed shelving in a fantastic crash.

He quickly turned around after finishing off his section and looked towards the opposite side where Jargo should be doing the same. Through the blazing flames of the armored car, he could see the wolf engaging a similar squad as he did, and after witnessing a concussive explosion rip through the group of them from what appeared to be a built in grenade launcher on his left forearm, the wolf executed their motionless bodies one by one with a single shot to the head to ensure the kill.

For now, the firing has ceased and all that remained was the cackling of the burning fire as it ate away at the tinted metal, and the wolf and man remained on either side in a defensive manner at they awaited imminent reinforcements. Unbeknownst to him, the drivers side door of the scout vehicle opened slowly, and out stepped a wobbling female human, still dazed from the prior impact, with arms raised at the oblivious wolf with all intents to kill.

"How d-dare you kill my brethren!" She spat. "I'll make you pay you wretched animal!"

The wolf turned to the side to see where the voice was coming from while humming a curious "Hmm?"

Just as she was about to unleash a deathly array of sparks, a ball of light came crashing into her side, knocking her into the sand while being engulfed in a flume of blue smoke. Her body laid motionless. Not even a scream of death was able to escape as her life was taken by the hands of the erusian. Jumping down from the tank turret, Sara'Zoe landed with soft feet and approached the wolf with a steady jog.

"You are not animal." She reassured his possible broken feeling from the female soldier's brash remarks.

"No, we're not." He looked her in the eyes and nodded his head towards the smoking remains of his potential assailant. "But they are." And after a short pause, he acclaimed her efforts. "And thanks. For watching my back."

She tilted her head in confusion. "Why would I watch your back? That seems like an odd thing to do."

Jargo raised a brow from the erusian's choice of words, but soon he realized she took the meaning of his words literally, and he couldn't help to laugh hysterically.

"Wha – What is so funny?" Her confounded state only deepened.

Still choking on his laughter, he tried to give an explanation. "I didn't think you'd take it so literally." He calmed down to a chuckle. "What I meant by that was thanks for protecting and saving my sorry ass. It's an idiom. A play on words."

Her brows shot upwards. "Oh! I understand now. The human tongue is a difficult one to comprehend sometimes."

"All languages have their perks. Not just the human's. I'm sure erusianese, or whatever language you speak has the same types of expressions."

"Indeed we do." She nodded. "But most of them insult one's character. Derived from our earlier years when the weak were considered outcasts, banished morally and given names that permanently replaced the ones at birth. Most would rather die than to live on with a name that would only bring shame to their families and themselves."

The wolf gave her a grimaced stare. "Your people sound like a whole bucket of joy."

Sebastian kept an eye on the other sections of the base while the others wrecked havoc in the warehouse. He heard the sounds of gunfire accompanied by faint shouts of the distanced soldiers trying to communicate with one another amongst the confusion. The sirens continued to blare while he maintained his constant state of awareness, he struck it as odd when there was sudden, complete silence throughout the entirety of the base. No alarms, no shots being fired. Nothing. It was a type of quietness that made him question whether he was still in reality, or if there was a possibility that he has been watched this whole time and killed without even knowing it. His suspicions wrung dry when he heard the roar of large engines revving in the background, and aiming his rifle at the opposing storage facility from where his quad mates were hung up he saw the menacing rolling thunder of basatin craftsmanship come storming out of the main entrance. The tank rode up to the intersection of the main throughway and its gears squealed as it came to a complete stop.

It sat there motionless as if it were contemplating its next move. Sebastian kept a close eye on it and gave the others an update on the situation outside the crossroad up ahead

'Tank. East, just outside on the main road.'

'Yeah. I see it.' He heard the captain after a few seconds. 'What's it doing?'

'Nothing.' The basatin zoomed in further to get a detailed view of the metal hulk. 'Lets see...huh.'

'Find anything interesting?' Cain asked after he heard his partner's intrigued train of thought.

'The body is of basatin design. But the main turret, it's something that I've never seen before. Definitely something not from us. Wait. Hold on a second.' He noticed that it began to move, more precisely the turret, but his zoomed in view prevented him from seeing exactly what it was attempting to do, and after a few turns of the dial he regained the full spectrum of the tank, but with undesirable results. He was disappointed to see that the tank sought his blood after its gun aimed in his direction, and retreating from his scope he jumped on top the small wall and lunged himself from tower, knowing that he wouldn't have enough time to take the more conventional route. Just before hitting the ground, a heavy whizzing flew by just a few feet above him, and the entire tower completely disintegrated in in a cloud of blue, intense fire. Striking the sands with his feet, he bent the knees and tumbled until he was able to stand up again, and turned back around to see the remnants of what used to be the guard's post. The heat was intense. Intense enough for him to think that if he delayed himself for even a second longer, that could have been him inside that brilliant explosion. His awing gaze was broken the captain spoke up on the comm system in a distressed tone.

'Sebastian! The tank fired at something! It looked like it was in your direction! Answer me!'

'I'm fine, Stryker.' The basatin patted a few grains of sand off of his rifle. 'But that was a little too close, even for me.'

'We should regroup as soon as we can. I don't want you out in the open for too long.'

'That might be a problem seeing as how that tank is playing babysitter. Besides, I'm used to working under pressure like this and I'll find someplace to hide for the time being.'

Sebastian cut himself from the comms until he finds something worthy to speak of again, and for now he had to lay low seeing as how the base was starting to act up again, whipping out the big guns to deal with only a few measly soldiers. After giving himself a good pat down to make sure all of his limbs were where they were supposed to be, he began to trek along the outer walls, looking for anyplace that could be used as a suitable hiding spot, but here, all he saw was garbage and heaps of scraps that could only provide so much. He reached the corner and carefully peeked around the edge of the rusty barracks to see if anyone resided. There was none, just as he expected since he presumed the occupants were busy dealing with the other internal threat, but he wondered how he was spotted in the first place.

Running all scenarios through his banks and came to one of two possible conclusions. Either that tank was outfitted with advanced sensory equipment, which is a possibility since its main gun received a quite a heft upgrade, or the muzzle flash from his rifle was prominent enough to warrant attention from those who happened to look at the right place at the right time. If he had any money, he would bet all of it on the latter, and thinking about it now, it was a rookie mistake. To use such volatile rounds in close quarters wasn't that much of a blunder, but remaining in the same place after said round was fired was a blunder on his part. A blunder that easily could have cost him his life. Overall, he parted the engagement with more wisdom, and from then on he knew that he wouldn't make that same mistake again.

Advancing forward, he spotted a metal ladder that was welded onto the side of the warehouse that appeared to lead to its rooftops; a perfect for him to stay and do his typical rounds of reconnaissance. Turning on his belt with a quick push of a button, his body faded into invisibility and as soon as the transition completed, he ran towards the ladder and began to climb. About halfway through, he heard the sounds of moving feet from afar, and he jolted his head to the side to get a quick look at a platoon of troops who were oddly grouped on the other side of the base, marching down the main road to where he assumed they were going to assault his squad mate's position. Soon, the building blocked the sight of them, and Sebastian did the only sensible thing a team player would do.

'Heads up guys. You got a large group of soldiers heading up the road. They may be closing in on your position.'

'How many?' The captain held his breath.

'Twenty to thirty of them. Maybe.'

The basatin heard the human quietly say something under his breath, so to speak, along the lines of "shit" or any other foul word that could easily describe their rapidly deteriorating situation. Sebastian continued his climb to the top where he instantly prayed to the gods that this roof was conveniently flat, unlike some others that are perched at the center or rounded, making it difficult for a pristine sniper, such as himself, to line up a good shot. He also took note that the roof also came with a set of protective ledges as he made it to the top steps of the ladder and hopped down a couple of feet onto the rooftop. He jogged towards the direction of the main road and went prone as soon as he got within a few dozen feet, and began to crawl his way to the edge. His elbows and knees started to singe from the heat of the desert sun that reflected onto the metallic surface, but his mind chose to ignore it and he pressed onward. Advancing a few more feet, he heard the familiar sound of that same tank from earlier, and he assumed it was beginning its advance. But he was wrong. The low growls erupted from all corners of the base and the purrs became higher pitched as time went. In a way, he was afraid to look over the ledge, but he had his responsibilities to look out for the others and as such, he raised his head only a few inches at she reach the wall and found that he was staring down a column of tanks and soldiers that were gathering on the throughway near the side road that led to the hangar. He wondered why they would assemble such an overwhelming force to hunt down three people in a tight place, but as he thought about it longer, the more he began to worry.

"With that much firepower, they can tear this whole building to shreds in no time." He mumbled to himself. "But why the soldiers then?' He pondered. "Unless they are there to sift through the rubble for our crushed corpses when they're through."

He watched on for a little while longer and noticed that the enemy armor fell into an organized formation before halting and quickly starting back up after waiting for those who were left behind. The tanks pushed forward first, leaving the rally of troops behind since their efforts are insignificant when compared to thousands of tons of forged metal, and turned the bend to face the entrance of the warehouse with their guns ready to fire at any moment. Sebastian cogitated about being outgunned by a marginal degree, but his cognitive thoughts made him forget about the one thing the enemy doesn't have. A fully armed frigate.

Remembering the conversation that the young vixen had with the captain, he ducked down behind the wall and stared at the miniscule device imbedded into his glove and waited for something to happen. Nothing did, and he knew that for each second wasted, the enemy was getting closer. He fumbled with his mind, trying as best he could to touch and poke at the device for any desirable effect, but he had no luck. Keeping himself calm, he kept a clear mind and suddenly, the device began to work once again, emitting a greenish hue from the near microscopic core it contained.

'Huh. So _it is _only powered by thought. I thought that only applied when using the comm system.' Hearing the rumbles of the tank division closing in, he exhausted no more time. 'Always living on the edge, Sebastian. Guess that'll kill me first before my smoking habits do.'

As if the holo-gear had known him for the longest time, it concentrated its energy into a powerful beam that shot out harmlessly into the atmosphere. With his back against the wall, the basatin chimed in to the proverbial floating fortress to alert her, with haste, of his impending action.

'Dagas to the Concord. Come in.'

After a couple of seconds, John answered his call with some concern. 'What is it Sebastian?'

'I'm about to use the laser designator. Tell Seth to have every god damned gun primed and ready to go in ten seconds or else we're going to get holes where they don't belong. No questions. Only action Got it?!'

John backed his head away from the console from his sudden outburst, and he quickly complied with keeping the questioning at a minimum, while alerting the gun crew's station.

After a a moment of silence, the human gave him the news he was looking for. 'Alright. Seth and his crew are good to go. Just what exactly is going on – '

Sebastian cut off the link to the Concord and aimed his arm just in front of the swarm of tanks up ahead. He kept his arm perfectly still, knowing that at any second he could get pop shot by anyone that wasn't entirely focused on the opening down below. But he couldn't care less if he did since either way, he and the others would be inevitably doomed. The tanks halted once again down the narrow corridor of parked vehicles and the first rounds began to pelt the innards of the building, causing the entire structure to quake. It seemed like an eternity for the Concord to take action, and he curse under his breath as more shells fired blindly in hopes of ending those who were unfortunate enough to inhabit it, and the fact that heard nothing, not even a peep, coming from his squad's end only made him think of the worst.

Over the distant horizon to the far north, he saw rapid flashes of light in the forms of small specs, and after their initial appearance, four mighty explosions rocked the enemy battalion, sending pieces of tank flying in every direction, causing Sebastian to duck in fear of being hit by the shrapnel. More rounds from the Concord struck that same area, destroying some of the parked vehicles and piles of scrap in the process. The basatin then bravely shot back out of cover and took aim at another piece of the convoy as they attempted to retreat, his thirst for blood reigning supreme. The soldiers fell back alongside the fleeing tanks, but they too shot up in flames as two more rounds from the railguns set them alight in a ball of blue spectacular light.

All was then eerily quiet except for the sounds of crackling heat emitting from the carcasses of what was once an intimidating tank battalion, and just as when the base was frenzied with activity like a disturbed beehive, almost instantly the silence made even the slightest gust of wind audible. Sebastian leaned his back against the wall again after eying the pleasant scenery of destruction, and wanted to give himself a minute or two to let the adrenaline dissipate from his bloodstream before making contact with the rest of the squad. He was happy to be alive and to be still one piece, but he knew if he waited around, more of them could come at any moment to finish the job. Ignoring the gittering of his body and the haze that clouded his mind, he worked the holo-gear to establish a connection with the others and prayed that they would answer him back as a sign that all may not have been lost.

'Stryker! Anyone! Are you there?'

There was no answer.

'Is anybody there?!'

This time, he heard the faint voice of a familiar canine which gave him the hope he was looking for, even if it was miniscule.

'I hope it's nice and cozy where you're at.' The wolf sounded a tad uncomfortable.

'Jargo!' Sebastian exclaim at the sound of his voice. 'Is everyone okay?'

'We're fine. Although it was a fuck fest when those tanks started to pound the ever living shit out of this place.'

'Good to hear that none of you are hurt.' The basatin sighed in relief.

'Nice job doing whatever you just did though. It saved our asses.'

'Yeah, don't mention it. I'll be heading down in a sec to meet up with you.'

'Roger that. See you in a bit.'

Sebastian released his control over the device and grabbed his rifle by the butt and cradled it in his arms before letting his hands settle on the barrel and rear grip respectively. Slowly standing up, he shook whatever drowsiness remained in his legs, and looked back again at the site of the wall of flames straight from the abysses of hell, and couldn't help but crack a smile of satisfaction before setting off for the ladder from which he came.

Cain propped himself against the front grill of a large, six wheeled transportation vehicle and gasped for breath due to his previous game of 'dodge the tank shells'. Jargo and Sara'Zoe were lucky enough to stick together since her magical abilities allowed for her to project a small bubble-like shield that fended off pieces of debris and granted protection from any form of harm. But he was left to fend for himself, and those thirty or so seconds at the receiving end of that devastating firepower seemed like an eternity to him and luckily, he was able to blink back and forth to avoid any serious damage. Although he had the potential to teleport into the safety of the erusian's shield, he didn't want her to risk expending more energy to make room for another body and if anything were to happen to himself, at least they would have had a chance survive.

Thinking of which, the erusian glanced at his tired posture and approached until she was within arm's reach. "Cain, that was completely unnecessary."

"What do you mean?" He opened his eyes.

"There was no need for you to risk yourself by committing such a perilous act."

"I had to." His breaths lengthened and became more tamed. "Your shield couldn't have lasted if you made room for one more."

"Just how do you know that?" Her hand slipped onto her waist. "You aren't me. I know my limitations."

"I guess you're right." He backed off knowing that now was not the right time to bicker and looked out of the exit of the hanger to the remnants of what was an organized military base. "We have a certain someone to thank for that."

"Indeed we do. But right now let us focus on capturing those images for the evidence we need to convict the king."

The trio proceeded to take photographs of the hardware inside the warehouse and they made sure to be as thorough as possible, utilizing every which angle to get individual pieces of equipment in frame along with snapshots of the entire array of vehicles. After every truck, tank and cargo container was accounted for, they met up again at the building's exit and cautiously walked out back into the desert sands where they were met with a curtain of flame and debris. The base's silence left them in a state of high alert since surely they thought that there would be some people left alive or stranded elsewhere to attempt to investigate this current dire state, or to at least tend to the wounded. But there was none. Not even a peep. And it was something that they did not want to hear. Nevertheless, Cain began to take additional pictures of the parked vehicles, or whatever was left of them, while the other two kept a sharp eye out for any shady movement.

It was until a few recordings in, that the sounds of rustling and rapid movement, just a few trucks ahead of the captain, caught the attention of the wolf's sensitive ears, which perked up and adjusted to the noise's general direction. He moved forward, alone with his gun ready to kill, since the erusian was busy doing a search of her own on the other side of the makeshift road, and upon reaching the small gap between the two vehicles where the noise originated, a swift basatin hustled out of the blue and gave the wolf an impulse to pull his trigger finger. But, as soon as Jargo realized who was responsible for those noises, he laxed his finger as fast as he could and aimed the barrel of the rifle towards the sand as a precaution.

"Holy shit, Sebastian!" The wolf jolted back a bit. "You could have had a nice hole in your head to compliment the ones in your lungs."

The basatin ignored his snarky remarks. "Didn't mean to scare you like that." He then turned and observed the captain waving his holo-gear over one of the truck fuselages. "We almost done here?"

"Almost." Jargo joined him. "Cain's just going to take a few more photos and then we'll blow this place to hell for good."

Cain's photo streak was nearing completion and he wanted to take an overall shot of the warehouse. Turning his back, he adjusted his gear to give the optimal view but little did he know, something lurked through the wreckage of twisted metal behind him, and it was only then did he heared the shouts of the two furs and the sudden attentiveness of the erusian on his right, that he twisted his body a full one-eighty, staring down a lone soldier stepping through the flames like a demon from hell. Jargo began unloading his weapon without question, but the soldier's black, full body armor was able to deflect them in a small shower of sparks. Seeing as how conventional arms were proving to be ineffective, Cain hurled a ball of fire aimed straight at the enemy's body and as soon as it was in range to devour the well defended troop, he raised his hand and shot the flames back towards him with a small push, causing the captain to tumble sideways to avoid being hit with one of his own spells.

The ground burst into flames only a few feet away from where he stood, and now Sara'Zoe had an opening to flay a few attacks of her own. Utilizing her most familiar form of mana manipulation, she lashed out her energy whip with an angered grunt, and was able to latch on to the advancing soldier's arm with extreme precision, and before she could reel him in for a bruising, the soldier ripped the manifested energy with his free hand and dissipated it without harm.

Ignoring the pitiful bullets from the two furs, the soldier's eyes glowed a sinister orange behind its visored helmet and his hand, clutched with a tight fist, began to spark with a similar hue. He was focused on the erusian now after perceiving it as the most dangerous threat, and with no warning, it bolted in her direction with the speed of a common suburban vehicle, picking up a small sandstorm in his wake.

Sara'Zoe gasped at the soldier's incredible charge and was given little time to react as his hand attempted to press against her chest, only to be stopped with the full exertion of both her arms. This standstill caused both of them to slide backwards through the hot sands nearly a dozen feet from the sudden stopping power she introduced. Jargo was now forced to cease fire in fear of hitting his companion, along with Sebastian who took refuge behind one of the concrete barriers seeing as how his melee attacks will be useless against the hardened metal armor.

Seeing as how the two were in deadlock, Cain manipulated his mana pool to decrease his own mass, and charged with similar velocity like their foe did previously, with his blade extending from his right arm. His entire body moved in a blurring motion, leaving behind arcs of light blue energy, and he took aim with his blade at the soldier's center of mass, but the agility proved to be a little too much for him, and his weapon only grazed the backside of the armor. The momentum was still there, however, and Cain slammed into the soldier with a thundering blow, sending both of them hurling to the ground in one piece. The soldier was not amused by his antics and the dreary look that this thing gave Cain sent a shower of fear through him with lifeless eyes that showed no remorse for the acts he was committing. He grabbed the captain by the throat with a surprisingly powerful grip, hurling him over twenty feet across the road with minimal effort, causing his body to slide partially under the sand.

"Cain!" The erusian whispered to herself as she witnessed her captain being flung like a play toy. Her flaming eyes narrowed upon the recuperating monster and she raised her arm outward with two fingers pointing like the lord of death calling for its next victim, and released a glaring beam of light that struck the soldier in his shoulder piece, and gave the air the illusion that it was bending under her might. The foe bestowed a muffled groaned from the intense heat of the melting armor that presumed to burn the skin of it wearer, and he grabbed hold of his shoulder with his opposing hand, gripping it tightly while releasing a recovering pant while staring down the erusian with the same demonic look he gave the captain.

Nurturing his shoulder with a mere covering of his hand confused Sara'Zoe since it would prove to do nothing for him, but in seeing the magical potential this shell of a person contained, she could only assume that he was performing a covert healing spell that went undetected even by her standards. And her predictions were correct. The soldier released his formerly damaged body, moving it ease with a simple roll, but the armor remained melted and chipped away.

Taking a step forward, the foe whirled a ball of light that was similar to her own element, and as such she was able to deflect it without much effort, but the assault did not stop there. He continued to fire spell after spell fluently between each moving step despite the fact the weight of his heavy armor should be slowing him down by a marginal amount. Again, Sara'Zoe was caught off guard by the different elemental effects he was performing. Fire, ice, lightning, even light, and every spark of energy that flowed from his armored fingertips varied differently from the previous cast. The varied changes in energy flux made it difficult for her to gauge a defensive posture, and her shield weakened with every blast until it was utterly shattered with strong bolt of lightning followed by a fierce fireball that knocked her onto her back, scorching parts of her clothing.

She grunted, not due to the burns of the flames, but from the mere rubbing sensation the sands introduced on her back and some sections of her waist when she slid those several feet. Staring at the bright, yellow sun, she felt heavy footsteps approaching and lifted her head up to see the advancing soldier surrounded by a shower of lightning that sparked onto the vehicles resting behind him. He was ready to kill, but the voice of Jargo swayed his attention as he warned her to retreat.

"Sara'Zoe! Quit laying around and get up!" The wolf had his suit prepared to unload its salvo of internal weaponry. His left arm was raised at the soldier and the missile launchers on his shoulders were opened, and the instant the erusian teleported to a safe distance out of the way, he unloaded everything; the grenade launcher made a hollowed pop and the two missiles soared simultaneously. The soldier saw the projectiles coming, but surprisingly he didn't react at all to them and just stared them down as if he wasn't expecting them to bring much harm. Cain recovered at this point, and rose from the sands and focused his stare onto the whistling missiles originating from the wolf. A loud explosion then caused him to shift his head to where the soldier was engulfed in a wave of smoke and shrapnel, and here he saw the beast with an injured wobble in his stance as the black cloud faded around him, which was then followed by two more blasts from the kinetic missiles which sent him flying into a parked transport truck, leaving a hefty dent in its front at the sounds of bending and twisting metal. The lone one yelped as he hit the floor after gravity has done its duty; clearly he has been weakened to an extent, but Cain and the others were not sure what else this thing was capable of. It appeared that a second wind came through to the downed trooper and he began to rise once again despite the shakiness of his legs and the dismantled frontal portion of his armor that had two orange-red indentations near the core along with cuts varying in size that were distributed all over.

Cain couldn't believe that he was still able to stand, let alone move, and he could compare the sheer durability of this super soldier with that of a high-end infantry fighting vehicle. All he knows now is that this thing can be damaged, and Jargo's use of his powerful arsenal was proof of that, and killing him would only then require time to chip away at was left of the damaged metal pates. It was a simple, yet brute idea, but it was the only choice they had since being tactical was out of the question in a direct combat situation such as this. And as if the basatin was listening in on his thoughts, a sharp and powerful shot of a rifle concussed from behind the three of them, and a grapefruit sized hole pierced through the armor, as if it were made of air, and made it to the soldiers flesh, causing blood to spew out like a faucet.

Amazingly, the soldier stood his ground, but with a noticeable slump in his stance, and it was now that Cain wanted to move in to finish the fight, and he did as such with the drawing of his energy weapon of choice, blinking with a brilliant flash, appearing in front of the hulking menace with both blades moving in to strike. And they met their mark precisely. The soldier collapsed right onto his ass along with Cain, whose swords were imbedded into the upper abdomen. The foe still put up a fight as he gripped onto Cain's hands and pushed away in an attempt to free himself from being impaled, but he could feel the mounting weakness in his strength, and soon the soldier collapsed onto his back while Cain sunk deeper into his guts.

There were no groans of pain or any bellows for mercy, only the small clouds of black that inhibited his iris's along with the evidence of his passing when his eyelids refused to close again, leaving his pupils to stare into the captain's with what little humanity he appeared to have left.

Dissipating his weapons into nothingness, Cain pulled back his arms to free them from his assailant's grasp, but it was proving to be difficult since the tight grip still remained even after death. After ripping off the soldier's hands with a large amount of strength, Cain stood over the remnants of the corpse and was soon joined by his companions who looked on with both intrigue and partial disgust.

"What the hell is this thing, Cain.?" Jargo paced around the body like a vulture looking for a meal.

"I don't know." The captain had nothing else to say, and instead began to look over the carcass with a careful examination.

"What exactly are you looking for, Cain?" Sara'Zoe squatted down next to him.

"This isn't exactly White Hand material here, Sara'Zoe. We need to find out exactly what this is and present it to the council."

"Then we should bring it aboard the ship and have the doctor look at it then." Sebastian suggested. "No sense in going over it now when we have other business to take care of first."

Cain looked up to him and agreed. "You're right. I don't want to leave this behind. I'll call in the ship and we'll bring him on."

Jargo looked on with a concerned expression on his face. "I don't know Cain. I don't feel exactly, comfortable bringing this on the ship. It could come back alive again for all we know."

"It a risk I'm willing to take." The captain voiced his determined decision. "We can't afford information like this to go wasted. Who knows if more of these things exist."

"It's your call captain." The wolf stepped away from the body.

Cain took one last picture of the lifeless suit, and it was here when he noticed something strange that stuck out that he hasn't noticed previously. A small extruded print of a symbol hung above the soldier's chestplate. It was partially damaged from the fight, so it was difficult to make out, but Cain knew from somewhere that he has seen this symbol before, and he called down the basatin to take a second opinion.

"Hey Sebastian. Does this look familiar to you?"

The basatin let out a silent gasp as he rested his eyes on the mark. It was a black fist, just like the one they've seen on the mysterious ship that attacked them over the seas. They have discovered a connection, but where it will them, they didn't know. But for now, they had the evidence they needed alongside an unexpected souvenir.

Cain called the Concord to alert them of their departure, and as soon as the message was received, they moved out towards the entrance from which they came. Jargo volunteered to carry the body since his enhanced physique allowed him to, although its weight wasn't exactly light, but he was able to press on. The squad kept alert for any stragglers and they made it to the exit with no contact whatsoever where the Concord awaited them amongst the desert landscape. The squad piled on board and Cain headed directly to the bridge with basatin and erusian while Jargo went to the medical bay to visit the doctor with the body mounted over his shoulders.

They were greeted by the members of the crew and they lifted off into the skies just a few hundred feet off of the ground within moments of their arrival. The captain waited along the broadside of the ship and gave the orders to Seth to decimate what was left of the base. The basatin and his team did as they were told, and activated the missile ports located on the ship's topside. A line of missiles shot in rapid succession from each port like an oversized machine gun, and they arced over the top of the base and shot straight down into distinct areas. Each warehouse was set alight in a mini-mushroom cloud, along with the lines of vehicles that strayed outside the building's borders. One by one the missiles hit, and Cain looked on despite the blinding yellow glow; it was a success that led them one step closer to the answers they were ultimately looking for. They have the evidence they need, and now they have to pay a visit to a suspicious king who has many questions to answer for.


End file.
